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THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 



BY 

EEV. A. H. HOLLOWAT, A. M., 
ii 

Author of "Life For a Look," " Good "Words for Sunday School 

Teachers," etc. 



Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty.— Isaiah mm, 17. 



New Yobk : 
THE AUTHORS' PUBLISHING COMPANY, 

1877. 

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Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, by 

THE AUTHOKS' PUBLISHING COMPANY, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington, D. 0. 



The Lt 

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Washing 



PKEFACE. 

In Theology, which is, in one sense, the science of Keligion, 
there are two elements, the finite and the infinite. We may 
therefore begin our studies of almost all the topics of religion 
from two points ; we may commence with the finite and proceed 
upward to the infinite, or with the infinite and descend to the 
finite. Our conclusions will have a distinct character as the one 
or the other method is adopted. Truth consists in a due relation 
of the two factois, and a great many of the perplexities of Theo- 
logy emerge where the finite and infinite elements cross each 
other, as in the doctrines of Eegeneration, Inspiration and Provi- 
dence. In these there is a human element and a divine, a finite 
side and an infinite, and the conflicting views arise from a differ- 
ent placing of these factors. 

The same is true with regard to the Life of Jesus. Here also 
there are two factors. We may study it exclusively from the 
human side, or from the divine, or with the two elements in their 
just relation. 

My object in the following pages is to view the Life of Jesus 
with this last principle as the governing idea. It is the error of 
some recent writers, as, for example, Kenan, and the author of 
Ecce Homo, that they view the Life of Jesus exclusively from the 
human side. It is also the fashion of the age, to a great extent, 

(3) 



iy PREFACE. 

to eulogize the man Jesus. The popular literature of the day 
abounds with admiration of this highest type of man. It is the 
custom, as Guizot expresses it, to give to Jesus as a man that 
which is taken from him as God. 

The truth is that the human factor infers the divine ; that with- 
out the second element the circle is incomplete and the character 
of Jesus a mystery which reason cannot solve. Jesus cannot be a 
mere outgrowth of human nature. Dens Homo expresses the 
truth as to his person, as far as it can be by human language. 

I do not claim originality for these essays in the sense of having 
invented truth. Following in the path of others who have labored 
in this field of thought, I have merely attempted a resetting of 
old and new truth. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER L 

PAGE. 

The Birth of Jesus 7 

CHAPTER EL 
The Childhood and Youth of Jesus 23 

CHAPTER HL 
The Perfect Man 43 

CHAPTER IV. 
The Geeat Teacher 75 

CHAPTER Y. 
A Man of Sympathy 92 

CHAPTER YL 
Jesus on the Ceoss 116 

CHAPTER VH 
The Resurrection of Jesus 138 

CHAPTER VUL 
The Ascension of Jesus 158 



(5) 



THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

CHAPTEE I. 

THE BIETH OF JESUS. 

Two remarkable men were born about the same 
time, Seneca the Philosopher, and John the Baptist. 
The Jew strove to awaken by stern words of rebuke 
the dead conscience of his hearers ; the Roman in 
his villa near the great city wrote those beautiful 
moral essays which have been so much admired by 
scholars. There is a striking contrast between these 
two men. The one is the preceptor of the world's 
Emperor, and possesser of an immense fortune ; the 
other, clothed with a prophet's rough garment, 
claims to be the forerunner of a King. The one is 
versed in all human learning, the other is simply a 
preacher of repentance. These two are representa- 
tive men. In them two lines of preparation, the 
natural and the miraculous, for a great event in his- 
tory are brought to a close. 

(7) 



8 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

Seneca may be said to represent the possible 
achievements of the human mind in presence of the 
material world and providence toward living a true 
life. This philosopher possessed all the treasures of 
Greek thought, and could write so much like a 
Christian that Jerome speaks of him by the title of 
"Saint." Yet it is sad to read the conclusion to 
which he came. "Once," says he, "trusting the 
word of others, I flattered myself with the prospect 
of a life beyond the grave ; and I longed for death, 
when suddenly I awoke and lost the beautiful 
dream." Before him, Plato, the wisest of the 
Greeks, had written of " a father and creator of the 
the universe, whom it is hard to discover, and whom, 
being found, it is impossible to make known to all." 
Such was the conclusion of the Pagan mind. We 
have in these words a view of the condition of that 
part of the human race which had been without a 
revelation from the spiritual world. It was dark- 
ness, doubt and death. Its greatest intellects had 
lost confidence, and could flippantly ask ' "What is 
Truth ? ' Herbert writes words which may be 
applied to the whole Pagan world : 

Profaneness in my head ; 
Defects and darkness in my breast ; 
A noise of passions ringing me for dead 

Unto a place where is no rest. 



THE BIR TH OF JES US. 9 

It is impossible at the present time fully to realize 
the darkness which rested upon the Pagan mind. If 
we could blot out from the thought and hope of the 
human race all the Christian element, then perhaps 
might we form a conception of it. The author of 
the " Eclipse of Faith " strikingly illustrates the 
indebtedness of human literature to the Bible by 
supposing that all the words and sentences which 
have been derived from the latter should suddenly 
disappear and leave a blank in their place ; in like 
manner, suppose that all the thought and hope in 
the sum of human knowledge and life should sud- 
denly go out, then it would be possible to imagine 
the condition of the Pagan world. The world by 
wisdom knew not God. As to that knowledge, which 
concerns all the true interests of human nature, it 
knew but little. Beyond a few wise guesses it knew 
nothing of the origin, nature, and destiny of the 
soul. Death cast a deep gloom over the life of all. 
Imagine a cultured Boman or Greek in presence of 
his dead : a father bends over the dead form of a 
lovely daughter; the eye is closed and the hand 
still ; no musical voice rings out from those closed 
lips ; no sweet smile plays over the fair face. What 
hope, what comfort could he find at such an hour ? 
How cheerless was the doctrine of transmigration ? 



10 THE BEA UTY OF TEE KING. 

What a perplexing glimmer of light was cast by tradi- 
tion and reason over this stern fact of human exis- 
tence ! The wise sayings of philosophy could not 
comfort the heart. The letter of consolation which, 
on the death of his daughter, Cicero received from 
his friend Sulpitius, finely illustrates the resources of 
philosophy. Sulpitius, striving to console his 
friend, writes as follows : " I lately fell into a reflec- 
tion which, as it afforded great relief to the disqui- 
etude of my own heart, may possibly contribute, 
likewise, to assuage the anguish of yours. On my 
return out of Asia, as I was sailing from iEgina 
towards Megara, I amused myself with contempla- 
ting the circumjacent countries. Behind me lay 
iEgina, before me Megara; on my right I saw 
Piraeus, on my left Corinth. These cities, once so 
flourishing and magnificent, now presented nothing 
to my view but a sad spectacle of desolation. Alas, 
I said to myself, shall such a short-lived creature as 
man complain, when one of his race falls either by 
the hand of violence, or by the common course of 
nature ; while in this narrow compass so many great 
and glorious cities, formed for a much longer dura- 
tion, thus lie extended in ruins ? Eemember, then, 
O my heart, the general lot to which man is born, 
and let that thought suppress thy unreasonable 



THE BIB TH OF JESUS. H 

murmurs. Believe me, I found my mind greatly- 
refreshed and comforted by these reflections." 

Such were the reflections which philosophy sug- 
gested. It is taken for granted that the soul of 
Cicero's child has gone out for ever. How cheerless ! 
The Pagan mind was without hope. It had acute- 
ness and a fine sense of the beautiful in nature and 
art, but the terrible shadow of death rested upon 
all. It is sad to read one of the finished poems of 
JEschylus, or one of the faultless orations of 
Demosthenes, or one of the beautiful poetic dia- 
logues of Plato, and reflect what utter blankness 
rested upon the life of their day. "What could not 
these men have accomplished if their minds had 
been vitalized by the great fact of eternal existence ! 

The creed of the wise men was vain, and then- 
private life full of immorality. Seneca recommended 
and practiced suicide* as a last refuge from the mis- 
fortunes of life. How different is the patience of 
Stoicism from that of the Gospel ! The one is the 
stubbornness of a soul standing at bay in view of 
evil, the other the calmness of holy trust. 

If such were the belief and the life of those 
esteemed wise, writing in poetic moments of the soul 

* He committed suicide by the command of the Emperor. 

1* 



12 THE JBEA TJTT OF THE KING. 

and living apart from care, how full of misery must 
have been the lot of their less fortunate fellows! 
Tacitus begins his history with these words : " I 
enter upon a work full of misfortunes, atrocious 
wars, discord, seditions ; — nay, hideous even in peace." 
Darkness and misery filled the earth. The uncon- 
scious cry of heathenism ascended to heaven for 
help. The soul had tried the experiment of living 
apart from God, and stood now like a lost child con- 
fused by the strange noises and forms with which it 
was surrounded. If pity could bring down God 
from heaven, here was a prophecy of the Advent. 
As in the case of the individual soul, the sense of 
need and the cry for help brings the Healer near, so 
the despair of the heathen world was a sign of the 
approach of the Restorer. The fulness of the time 
had come. 

This part of the preparation for the Advent, 
although in its general features negative, is yet, in 
some respects, positive also. 

1. By the intellect of man a noble instrument had 
been prepared, which was now to be used as a 
means of conveying truth from the unseen world. 
The most perfect of human languages was now 
ready ; a language which, as a medium of thought, 
has never been equalled. " The language of Hellas 



TEE BIB TE OF JES US. 13 

is the most beautiful, rich, and harmonious ever 
spoken or written." This instrument God chose 
as a channel of communication with the soul. It 
was necessary to use a language of earth in order 
that man might know what was written, and God 
selected no mean one in which the truth might 
reside. It is well known that this beautiful speech 
is capable of being translated as no other can 
be; and hence the various families of man seem 
to have the truth, when translated, almost as if 
it had been written in their own vernacular tongue. 
The truth does not lose its power by passing from 
this language into the various dialects spoken by the 
human family. When the fulness of the time had 
come, this fit instrument was the common language 
of the civilized world. 

2. The entire civilized world, consolidated into 
one vast empire, was at peace. Milton's " Hymn of 
the Nativity " thus represents the state of the world 
at this time : 

Nor war, or battles' sound 
Was heard the world around ; 

The idle spear and shield were high up hung. 
The hooked chariot stood 
Unstain'd with hostile blood. 

The trumpet spake not to the armed throng ; 
And kings sat still with awful eye, 
As if they surely knew their sov'reign Lord was by. 



14 THE BE A UTY OF THE KING. 

The Mediterranean sea, forming but an inland 
lake of the Roman empire, had just been cleared of 
pirates. The tumult of war had died away, and the 
civilized world presented the unusual spectacle of 
one mighty empire governed by one man. Military 
roads traversing the empire had been constructed, 
so that the declaration, " I am a Roman citizen," was 
a passport and safeguard in all regions. 

No candid and thoughtful mind can view this side 
of the preparation for the Advent without discovering 
in it a supernatural element. The greatest event in 
the history of the world was about to occur, and 
all had been made ready. The palace had been 
prepared for the coming of the king : God will ap- 
pear, and his hand is seen in the preparation. 

One man ruled the world, and of that one man 
Seneca had been preceptor. Seneca believed that a 
life beyond the grave was a beautiful dream. These 
are the results of the preparation for the Advent* on 
the merely human side. Culture, beauty, power on 
the one hand, on the other darkness, misery and 
death. 

* This culmination of results reached a little beyond the pre- 
cise time of the Advent. If I were writing a Dictionary of Dates, 
it would be necessary to state that Nero was born A. D. 37, and 
became Emperor A. D. 5L I am speaking of the general charac- 
teristics of the age. 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. 15 

1. "We have now to consider the second line of pre- 
paration for the Advent, of which John the Baptist 
was taken as the representative, and which, in con- 
sequence of the more manifest interposition of God, 
may be called the positive or divine. Out of all the 
families of the earth one had been selected and 
taken under the especial care of God. It is not 
meant by this statement that there was no provi- 
dence manifested in the history of the rest of the 
human race, but that the hand of God is more 
visible in that of this chosen family. This people 
possessed correct ideas of God and of human duty. 
Through . long years of training, the Unity and 
Spirituality of God had been implanted in the 
national mind, and inspired men were, their teachers. 
This chosen family was placed in the centre of the 
civilized world, and by a continued miracle kept 
from idolatry. Palestine was the highway of the 
known world. Here the hope of a Restorer was 
cherished. But when the Baptist appeared the 
hopes of this selected family were confused with a 
Pagan element. The tendency of the human race is 
ever towards universal empire, and dreams of a 
great temporal kingdom filled the minds even of 
those who formed the little conquered province of 
Palestine. Piety had decayed. There was the 



16 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

body without the soul of true religion. The beautin 
ful temple with its divinely appointed service still 
remained, but the men who ministered at the altar 
w^ere formalists and hypocrites. Only here and 
there a true man, like Simeon, could be found who 
longed for the appearing of the Helper. The time 
had come. The human race was lifting up its hands 
in dumb entreaty for deliverance. John, the con- 
necting link between the old and new order of things 
appears and announces the approach of the great 
King. The Advent is the miracle of history. 
Through the weary ages all the lines of preparation 
lead to one place and to one Person. It is the key 
of human history, explaining that which goes before 
and that which comes after. It draws within itself 
the destiny of every human life. The fulness of the 
time had come, and God sent forth his Son. The 
preparation was worthy of the expected guest. 

2. The object of the Advent was to manifest God, 
to show to the blinded soul its Father. Man had 
wandered away and lost God. To bring God near 
to him was now the great need. Unless man re- 
sembled God in some respects he could not know 
him at all. The irrational creature has no concep- 
tion of a Creator. The plant and the bird, although 
the one grows and the other sings through the power 



THE BIRTH OF JESUS. yj 

of God, have no conception of Him, because they are 
not in any degree of tlie same kind. Man alone was 
created after the image and likeness of God. He 
possesses in himself the alphabet of a God through 
which he reaches the conception of the latter. God 
shows himself to man in his soul and through the 
outward world. But how little can man know of 
the infinite Creator ! and that little knowledge is 
relative. He knows God as related to himself ; but 
of the infinite number of relations which He sustains 
to other beings in the universe he knows nothing. 
At the time of which we write the soul had lost, to a 
great extent, even this relative knowledge of God. 
The ages passed showed that these sources of infor- 
mation, reason in one part of the race and even 
inspiration in the selected family, were not sufficient. 
There was a necessity that God should come forth 
from the silence of the material world and manifest 
himself to man. There was need not of a thought, 
but of a form. God must be seen ; not God in him- 
self ; that were impossible ; but God in a relation. 

Here it must be borne in mind that it is not my 
design to consider the ulterior and most important 
object of the Advent, namely, to make an atonement 
for sin, but only the immediate object, which was to 
bring God near to the soul. This was accomplished 



18 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

by the Advent. We know more of God in this way 
than we could in any other. All other ways of 
knowing God are but as the dim light of the morn- 
ing; this is as the light of the noon-day. God 
manifest in the flesh was the great need of humanity : 
" Show us the Father," was a cry which came from 
the depths of human nature. At length, when the 
fulness of the time had come, One who could be seen 
and talked with, stood on the earth among men, and 
had authority to say : " He that hath seen me, hath 
seen the Father," "I and the Father are one." 
God came not in his own form, but in the form of 
man. He did not cease to be what he was and be- 
come something else : He veiled — put aside that 
which could not be known — and came near in the 
form of man. At a certain time, in a certain place, 
and in a known form, God dwelt among men. "We 
see God when we see Jesus. By the Advent God is 
brought near to the intellect ; we know God by 
knowing Jesus. By the Advent God is brought near 
to the heart : we love God when we love Jesus. 
God is not now a mere thought or influence, but a 
person, related to time and space. It is impossible 
for man to love a thought or power ; he must have a 
personal manifested God. It is vain to try to reach 
after the Absolute Jehovah. Think of Jesus, a 



THE BIB TH OF JESUS. 19 

friend, brother, and sorrowful man. The noble ele- 
ments of hero-worship find a place in the person of 
Jesus ; God brought near through a human form ; 
God known through the knowledge of One who was 
in fashion like us ; God worshipped in the worship 
of a man. 

3* The manner of the Advent is as wonderful as 
the preparation and the object. God would appear 
in order to be seen of men ; what form will he take ? 
The Psalmist thus describes the going forth of the 
Almighty : 

He bowed the heavens also, and came down : 
And darkness was under his feet 
And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly. 
Yea, he did fly npon the wings of the wind. 

But not after this manner did God appear. Six 
miles south of Jerusalem was a little Hebrew village 
called Bethlehem. It was an insignificant town of 
Judah, renowned chiefly as the birth-place and home 
of David. The Prophet Micah thus speaks of it : 
"But thou Bethlehem-Ephratah, too small to be 
among the thousands of Judah (the central towns 
where the heads of thousands or subordinate divis- 
ions of tribes resided) : Out of thee shall come forth 
unto me One who is to be theBuler in Israel ; whose 
origin is from the first of time, from the days of 



'20 THE BEAUTY OF THE KINO. 

eternity."* Not Hebron, the old capital of Palestine, 
lor Bethel, where Jacob saw the wonderful vision, 
lor Jerusalem, where the beautiful temple stood, but 
little Bethlehem, where Buth, Boaz and David had 
lived, did God select as the place of His appearing. 
How will He appear ? Have the great ones of the 
earth been called together in the plain of Bethlehem, 
with banner and glitter of gold ? There is a gather- 
ing at Ephratah, but it is of the way-worn and 
oppressed who have come hither to be enrolled. 
Among those who thus came to their ancestral town 
were two humble persons, descendants of David — 
Joseph, the carpenter, just and devout, and Mary, 
his wife. They reside in the ill-reputed village of 
Nazareth in North-Galilee, seventy miles distant. 
We do not know the particulars of the journey they 
had made. It is probable that Joseph performed it 
on foot, passing through Jerusalem, where the Pagan 
ruled in the seat of his ancestors. Mary, in whose 
veins the blood of David the King flowed, could find 
no place in the inn, and brings forth her first-born 
in a cave used as a stable, wraps him in swaddling 
clothes and places him in a manger. That Babe 
sleeping so sweetly in that manger is God manifest 
in the flesh. 

* Schaff. 



TEE BlE TE OF JES US. 21 

Unto us a child is born. 

Unto us a son is given ; 

And the government shall be upon his shoulders ; 

And his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor ; 

The Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. 

This is the great mystery of the incarnation. 
Reason cannot fathom it ; she can only bow the 
head and adore. That Babe in that manger is the 
Desire of all nations ; the central fact of human his- 
tory and progress, the light and life of the world. 
All the lines of providence and history converge 
towards that manger in the little hamlet of Beth- 
lehem. 

There is about this birth a strange commingling 
of heaven and earth, of the divine and human 
elements. On the one hand there is lowliness and 
poverty. This child was shut out from the inn and 
placed among the beasts of the stall. The parents 
are poor foot-sore travelers from half-pagan Gali- 
lee. There is here the truest earthly humc*n element. 
On the other hand, Divinity breaks through these 
earthly surroundings. Spiritual beings are taking 
an unusual interest in this birth. A bright light 
streams forth from the sky in the calm night, and 
the sweetest music from a company of angels falls 
upon the ears of a band of shepherds as they watch 
their flocks : 



22 TEE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

Glory to God in the highest, 

And on earth peace, good will toward men. 

Angels had foretold this birth. "Wise men from 
the East, guided by a star, bring presents and wor- 
ship the infant in the manger. It was impossible 
for these supernatural occurrences to gather through 
superstition around this birth. On the human side, 
the birth was such an humble one as to exclude, 
unless they were true, reports of strange occurrences. 
The circumstances of the birth are so human that if 
that were all no prodigies could ever after have 
gathered around it. This wonderful commingling of 
weakness and power, of man and God, which appears 
in the Advent will continually appear in our medita- 
tion upon this life. A Babe and yet a God. This 
contrast is so wonderful that it seems like impiety 
to write it; such, however, is the mystery of 
Incarnation. 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 23 



CHAPTEE II. 

THE CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 

Sixty-five miles north of Jerusalem lies the little 
village of Nazareth. It has thus been described by 
travelers. " Fifteen gently rounded hills seem as if 
they had met to form an enclosure for this peaceful 
basin — they rise around like the edge of a shell to 
guard it from intrusion. It is a rich and beautiful 
field in the midst of these green hills — abounding in 
gay flowers, in fig trees, small gardens, hedges of the 
prickly pear ; and the dense rich grass affords an 
abundant pasture. The village stands on the steep 
slope of the southwestern side of this valley." 
— Dean Stanley. 

" "We soon descried the white houses of Nazareth, 
and with an eager inquiring look gazed on the inland 
basin, as I may call it, which, like a green nest, lies 
concealed from the gaze of the outer world among 
these beautiful secluded hills. When the sun set I 
took a walk, all alone, along the hills. The night 



2 4 THE BE A UTY OF THE KING, 

was illuminated by a full moon, which seemed to 
stand out of the sky as if it did not belong to the 
depths of blue beyond. Every object was revealed 
with marvellous clearness ; while the dark shadows 
from rock and tree, from " dell and dingle/' with the 
subdued light veiling the bare white limestone, gave 
not only relief to the eye, but added to the beauty 
and picturesqueness of the scene. A low undulating 
ridge of hills encloses the green plain that lies like 
a lake, with Nazareth built on one of its shores. I 
soon reached a point opposite to the town, where I 
sat down protected from the intrusion of any chance 
traveler or prowler by the deep shadow of a tree. 
There, amid a silence broken only by the barking of 
the never-silent dogs, I gazed out, f eeling powerfully, 
as I often did before, the difficulty of taking it all 
in. I inwardly repeated, this is Nazareth. The 
town with its white walls, all gemmed with light scin- 
tillating with singular brilliancy in the mountain air, 
seemed to clasp the rugged hill side like a bracelet 
gleaming with jewels. Masses of white rock shown 
out from dark recesses. The orchards and vineyards 
below were speckled with patches of bright moon- 
light breaking in among their shadows, while peace 
and beauty rested over all." — Norman McLeod. 
This obscure hamlet, nestling among the hills 



CHILDHOOD AXD YOUTH OF JESUS. 25 

which bound the plain of Esdrselon on the north, is 
not once mentioned in the Old Testament history. 
Its inhabitants were noted for a certain roughness — 
which characteristic, together with the obscurity of 
the place, gave rise to the proverb, " Can any good 
thing come out of Nazareth ? " Here Joseph and 
Mary lived. No doubt the youthful maiden often 
went with her pitcher for water to the spring or well 
at the north-west extremity of the town. Here 
Joseph followed his occupation of carpenter. We 
long to know more about them. Perhaps Mary was 
distinguished from other maidens of Nazareth by 
her earnest piety. Theirs was a home of cheerful 
humility, and here was effected the early develop- 
ment of the most wonderful life which has ever been 
lived upon the earth. In this village among the 
hills, in the home of Joseph and Mary, the Son of 
God lived during thirty years. God chose Joseph 
and Mary to watch over the infancy and youth of 
his Son, and it cannot be wrong to conclude that 
they were, by their pure and earnest piety, peculiarly 
fitted for this great trust. To have the training of 
an immortal spirit is enough to make a thoughtful 
soul tremble, but who can tell the weight of respon- 
sibility involved in the rearing of the Holy Child ? 
God conferred upon them the highest honor that 
2 



26 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

human beings could receive. It is natural that we 
should feel an intense desire to know more of their 
characters, but a veil has been drawn before our 
eyes ; we only know that in this pious family Jesus 
spent thirty years of his life. As a babe he was 
sung to sleep by some Jewish cradle song ; as a boy 
he learned the Scriptures and went with his parents 
to the synagogue, or wandered over the hills during 
a holiday, gathering flowers ; as a youth he ascended 
the eminence on the western side of the basin and 
gazed upon the rounded dome of Tabor in the north- 
east, the white top of Hermon in the distant north, 
Carmel and the Mediterranean in the west, and the 
great battle-plain of Esdraelon in the south and 
south-east. The Holy Child was subject to all the 
conditions of an obscure human life. He worked 
for his daily bread ; he lived as an acquaintance, 
neighbor and friend. His were the pastimes of the 
joyous boy and the aspirations of the thoughtful 
youth. His was a true human life. Deity came not 
into the sphere of the world suddenly, full-grown, 
surrounded with dazzling splendor, but in the forrq 
of an infant, and developed silently as a human 
being. Away from human thoroughfares the Life 
appeared ; not at Jerusalem or Hebron, but at 
flowery Nazareth. 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF IESUS, 27 

Two important truths suggest themselves here : 
1. The impossibility of separating the divine from 
the human element, and the longer we dwell upon the 
humble humanity of Jesus, the brighter shines forth 
the God-head. It may be supposed that such med- 
itation upon the humility of Christ's life w r ould tend 
to lessen our reverence for his person. But if it be 
rightly viewed, there is nothing in this mode of rep- 
resentation which can weaken our belief in his di- 
vine nature ; on the contrary, its effect is rather con- 
firmative. The divine element is so interwoven with 
the human that it is impossible to separate the one 
from the other. They mutually illustrate and prove 
each other. They are the two factors of the one 
Life which is utterly incomprehensible if either of 
them should be left out. Comparing the results 
with the human conditions of Christ's life, we see the 
necessity of a divine element. Put the present con- 
dition of the human race side by side with that in 
which it was when Christ appeared, and remember that 
for over eighteen hundred years He has been the 
source of Light, hope and joy, to countless numbers 
of sorrowful souls ; the source of progress in every 
department of human enterprise, the quickener of 
thought and exertion, and then go back to Nazareth 
and see the helpless Babe in the arms of Mary and 



28 TEE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

the youth in the carpenter's shop ; the conviction 
inevitably deepens within us that that Child must 
have been more than human. Here are the results 
before the eyes of all, there in Nazareth is the cause. 
Now, if the divine factor is omitted, the cause is not 
adequate to the effect. If the principle of the natu- 
ralistic philosophy is true, namely, that there can 
be no miracle or interworking of a divine power, 
then the life of Jesus cannot be explained. The 
more, then, we see of the weakness of the instru- 
ment which has accomplished this mighty result, the 
more we feel the need of a present Deity, so that it 
cannot be dangerous but beneficial to dwell upon the 
human conditions of the Restorer. 

Suppose that the child of Mary differed in no re- 
spect from his companions, as the naturalist holds, 
then the success of his life is a mystery more dark 
than the union of the two elements, divine and hu- 
man, in his person. In a multidude of lives the con- 
ditions of success have been more favorable than in 
his. If such a life is a mere outgrowth of human 
nature, then why have the ages witnessed but one, 
and that one in such unpromising circumstances ! It 
is impossible to leave out the divine element. There 
is in this life something beyond nature ; something 
more than the inspiration of genius. Nazareth has 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 29 

become famous, not by the light of human genius, 
but by the bright shining of Deity. There are 
hundreds of places on the earth which have been 
consecrated by the presence of genius, but the pre- 
sence of Deity has never been demanded as necessary 
to explain the results associated with them. Naza- 
reth is alone in this respect ; even reason must con- 
fess that a God consecrated this spot. 

2. The second fact which meets us here is the si- 
lence of the four Biographies of Jesus concerning the 
early part of his life. The origin of the Book is 
shown as convincingly by what it does not say as by 
what it does. Upon the theory of the naturalist is 
it not unaccountable that of thirty years of the life 
of the most wonderful man who has ever appeared 
upon the earth there should be almost no record ? 
Is such silence human ? If the writers of the fou r 
Biographies had been influenced merely by human 
motives could they have resisted the influence to 
meet the demands of curiosity? There is a lauda- 
ble desire in human nature to know all about the 
parents, early surroundings, and doings of great men. 
Bead the biographies of these, and it will be seen 
how carefully all the anecdotes and instances of pre- 
cocious development are gathered by the biogra- 
pher. But in this single case we find men writing 



30 TEE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

biographies upon a wholly different principle. They 
say nothing about the parents of the Holy Child, ex- 
cept as they are related to him, and disposed a 
period of his own life including thirty years, in 
two brief verses and one anecdote. Could four men, 
writing merely from human motives, resist the temp- 
tation to collect anecdotes of the infancy and youth 
of Jesus, especially when it is remembered that 
there were rumors that remarkable events had sig- 
nalized his birth ? The spurious gospels of the In- 
fancy show us what form a merely human account 
of the life of Jesus would have assumed. To the 
thoughtful mind there is in this silence of the 
Book concerning the early life of Jesus a most con- 
vincing proof that a divine element was present in 
its composition. 

Having considered these two truths, we have now 
to dwell upon the early life of Jesus, and what it 
teaches us. This portion of the Biography is con- 
tained in two brief verses, and in the account of the 
journey to Jerusalem at the age of twelve. The first 
twelve years of Christ's life are thus described : 
" And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, 
filled with wisdom ; and the grace of God was upon 
him." The following eighteen years are thus de- 
scribed : " And Jesus increased in wisdom and in 
stature, and in favor with God and man." 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 31 

This brief account of the early life of Jesus indi- 
cates that his was a true childhood. The child grew 
in stature and wisdom. There was a gradual, or- 
dinary development; there were all the changes 
from infancy to mature manhood. The childhood 
of Jesus was not an appearance merely, but real. 
All the conditions of humanity, except sin, belonged 
to him. His was a real infancy, a real youth, a real 
manhood. He grew physically, mentally and spirit- 
ually. The relation between him and his mother 
Mary was a true human relation ; she looked upon 
him as her child, and watched over him with a 
mother's anxiety. "While she pondered in her heart 
the supernatural occurrences which attended his 
birth, the human element seems to have kept the 
ascendency in thoughts of him. His kinsmen and 
neighbors looked upon him as a human being. It 
would be interesting to know just how he was re- 
garded by his townsmen ; were the supernatural 
concomitants of the birth known to all and remember- 
ed, or known only to a few? In view of the events 
that occurred at the beginning of his public life, it is 
probable that as the years of infancy and youth passed 
away he was not looked upon as an unusual person 
except in the guilelessness and purity of his charac- 
ter. Perhaps Mary never revealed to her neighbors 



32 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

the circumstances of the Annunciation ; in that age 
when seventy miles were equivalent to seven thou- 
sand at present, a rumor of the occurrences at Beth- 
lehem may have reached Nazareth, and the more 
devout of the neighbors may have called to see the 
wonderful Child ; but gradually these things passed 
out of mind. We know that when he began his pub- 
lic ministry his neighbors were taken by surprise, 
and that their daily familiarity with him bred in- 
credulity and hatred : " How know T eth this man let- 
ters, having never learned ? "Whence has this man 
this wisdom and these mighty works ? Is not this 
the carpenter's son? is not his mother Mary? and 
his brethren James and Joses and Simon and Judas? 
and his sisters — are they not all with us ? "Whence, 
then, hath this man all these things? " 

It is remarkable that his kinsmen, having forgot- 
ten the events of his birth, should have regarded him 
as beside himself and endeavored to lay hold on him, 
when surrounded by the multitude which was attract- 
ed by his words and works. Probably Mary herself 
did not fully comprehend the majesty of the per- 
son whom she had been the means of bringing into 
the sphere of human nature, and whose early train- 
ing had been committed to her care. Y^e know that, 
through every-day contact with temporal things, our 



CHILDHOOD AND BIBTH OF JESUS. 33 

poor human nature is prone to loose sight of unseen 
realities ; and it would have been a disturbing ele- 
ment in the human condition of Christ, if Mary had 
habitually regarded the Holy Child as the Son of 
God. It -would have been impossible for her to dis- 
charge her maternal duties towards him. In pro- 
phetic moments, as w T hen she uttered the Hymn of 
the Magnificat, she may have felt the reality of her 
position as the medium of the human nature of the 
Restorer ; but it is quite probable that, in the on- 
going of eyery-day domestic life, she did not fully 
comprehend that God dwelt in her humble home. 

The anecdote which is recorded of Jesus, in his 
twelfth year, seems to indicate that the mind of 
Mary regarded too exclusively the human conditions 
of her son. "When she had found him in the tem- 
ple she gently chides him, saying, " Son, why hast 
thou dealt thus with us ? " His reply is, " Know ye 
not that I must be about my Father's business ? " 
As if to say, Tou look upon me too much as your 
child ; I have a Father in heaven ; this is my Father's 
house ; I must be engaged in the things of my 
Father. 

Again, this brief record of the early life of Jesus 
shows that his was a beautiful and pure childhood. 
His was the ideal of a perfect human childhood. 



§4 TRE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

There was not the least taint of sin in his nature. 
" That Holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall 
be called the Son of God." While subject to human 
infirmities, weariness, sleep, growth, and the unper- 
verted natural appetite, he was without sin. He was 
never sick He was never fretful. He grew up a 
beautiful, holy child. All the beauties of child-na- 
ture were his in perfection ; its innocence, trustful- 
ness, simplicity and purity. By two short sentences 
the beautifnl picture, so far as we are capable of 
realizing it, is placed before us ; " the grace of God 
was upon him" — "in favor with God and man." 
We love to think of him praying to his Father morn- 
ing and evening, or rather of his habitual commun- 
ion with God. He never went out of his Father's 
presence. He moved during his whole life in the 
things of his Father. His life was a constant wor- 
ship. We long to know how he was looked upon by 
other children and parents, but this knowledge has 
been forbidden us. If the writers of his life had 
been writing a romance, after the manner of Eenan, 
we should, no doubt, have had the most beautiful 
picture of child-life and youthful integrity that has 
ever been penned. A sinless childhood! what a 
theme to attract the imaginative mind of the East. 
We know that he was the model Child ; the model 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 35 

Youth ; the perfect Exemplar of filial piety. The 
fact that his parents could leave him at the age of 
twelve to take care of himself and go a day's jour- 
ney homeward, shows how much they trusted him. 

This incident, which occurred when Jesus was 
twelve years old, is the only remaining fragment of 
information concerning his youth. At that time, in 
accordance with the Jewish custom, which permitted 
youth at that age to take some personal part in the 
religious services, he .went, perhaps for the first time 
since his presentation in the temple, to the Holy 
City. He had seen the bands of pilgrims passing 
through Nazareth on their way to the annual festi- 
vals, and heard them singing the beautiful Psalms : 
" I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into 
the house of the Lord, Our feet shall stand within 
thy gates, O Jerusalem." He had listened to his 
mother's description of the Holy City, the beautiful 
temple, the white-robed priests, and the imposing 
scenes of worship. In one of his ardent piety and 
sinless spirit the longing must have been intense to 
see these things. And now the time has come for 
him to go to Jerusalem, and he witnesses the solemn 
services of the Passover. "When his parents return 
homeward he remains behind. After three days 
they find him in the temple among the doctors, both 



36 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

hearing them and asking them questions. All that 
heard him were astonished at his understanding and 
wisdom. His parents are amazed also, and his 
mother says ; " Son, why hast thou thus dealt with 
us ? behold thy father and I have sought thee sor- 
rowing." He replies, " How is it that ye sought me? 
wist ye not that I must be about my Father's busi- 
ness ?" "Whatever may be the true explanation of the 
seeming neglect on the part of Mary, this incident 
reveals much of the character of Jesus, and of the 
relation which existed between him and his parents. 
Lange says of it ; " The history of Jesus in his twelfth 
year represents his whole development. It is the 
characteristic deed of his youth, the revelation of his 
youthful life, a reflection of his birth, a sign and an- 
ticipation of his future heroic career." 

This incident shows : 1. That the Child Jesus was 
conscious of his mission. "Whether a consciousness 
of his character as the Messiah was present to his 
mind at all times, we know not ; but this incident re- 
veals that at the age of twelve he felt that he had 
been sent into the world to accomplish some great 
thing. He knew that God was his Father. He 
knew that his Father had given him a work to ac- 
complish : know ye not that I must be in the things 
of my Father. 



CHILDHOOD AXD YOUTH OF JESUS. 37 

2. There is here a beautiful illustration of the 
truth of the statement which in after life Jesus made, 
" If any man will do his will, he shall know of the 
doctrine." The doctors were astonished at his un- 
derstanding. These men who had spent their lives 
in studying the law are confounded by the answers 
of a child of twelve. How keen the spiritual vision 
of innocent childhood! This Holy Child living a life 
of prayer and communion with God and nature 
apart from schools among the hills of Nazareth, has 
more wisdom than the aged men of the Law. 

While it must be kept in mind that Jesus cannot 
be placed in the sphere of ordinary human nature, 
yet it is probable that at this age the natural sources 
of wisdom were his rather than the supernatural. 
Afterwards the Spirit was given to him without 
measure ; noio his own pure soul and prayer, it may 
be, are the chief sources of his understanding. 

3. There is a hint, also, in this incident, of what 
may be called the gradual taking out of Jesus from 
the human sphere or relation. This is referred to 
in the prophecy of Simeon : "A sword shall pierce 
through thy own soul also." Mary had fallen into 
the habit of looking upon Jesus too exclusively as 
her child. The human relation had obscured the 
divine. There is a gradual re-adjustment of these 



38 TEE BEA UTT OF TEE KING. 

two elements ; Jesus gently reminds her of the higher 
spiritual relation. When Jesus, on the cross, de- 
livered his mother to the care of the beloved disciple, 
he dissolved finally the human relation existing be- 
tween himself and Mary. 

After this incident Jesus went down with his 
parents to Nazareth, and was subject to them. Dur- 
ing eighteen more years the Son of God lived in the 
humble home of Joseph and Mary, and of those 
eighteen years not one word has been written. Di- 
vine power of silence ! One brief sentence stands at 
the beginning of the period : " Jesus increased in 
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and 
man." C. J. Ellicott thus speaks of these eighteen 
silent years : " As that Holy One left the glories of 
heaven to tabernacle with men, so now in retrospec- 
tive shadow and similitude he leaves the blessedness 
of his Father's temple for the humble home of 
earthly parents, and remains with them as the lov- 
ing and submissive son, the sharer, perhaps, in his 
reputed Father's earthly labors, the councellor, and 
perchance supporter, of the widowed Virgin after 
the righteous son of Jacob, who henceforth appears 
no more in the history, had been called away to his 
rest. Thus, O mystery of mysteries, in that green 
basin in the hills of Galilee, amid simple circumstan- 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 39 

ces, and perchance in the exercise of a humble cal- 
ling, dwelt the everlasting Son of God, the varied 
features of that nature which he had made so fair, 
the permitted media of the impressions of outward 
things. His oratory the solitary mountains ; his 
purpose the salvation of our race ; his will the will 
of God. Thus silently and thus mysteriously pass 
away those eighteen years, until at length the hour 
is come, and the voice of the mystic Elias is now 
heard sounding in the deserts, and preparing the 
way for Him that was to come. " 

Much has been written with regard to this silence 
covering this period of eighteen years. The wisdom 
of God is no where more apparent than in this. If 
there had been given a minute history of the every day 
life of Jesus during those years, his occupation and 
daily intercourse with kinsmen and neighbor what a 
fund of argument would it have afforded to those 
who make such desperate attempts to banish God 
from the universe. Even pious minds would have 
been beset with the difficulty, in the presence of so 
much that was human, of realizing the Divinity of 
Christ ; like Mary who forgot that her child must be 
about his Father's business. 

The lessons suggested by these thirty years of 
preparation are very apparent. 



40 THE BEAUTY OE TEE KING. 

1. There is the relation of these silent years to the 
life-work of Jesus. The whole life has a bearing 
upon human redemption. We are too apt to look 
upon the closing part of his life as that in which 
there is value for atonement. The humiliation and 
anguish of Gethsemane and the Cross stand out 
prominently from the rest of the life and arrest at- 
tention. Now we cannot make too much of the death 
of Jesus, nor dwell too often upon its intense agony ; 
but it must be borne in mind that his whole life was 
an offering for sin. There was deep humiliation in 
those thirty silent years which he spent in the home 
of Joseph and Mary, and it forms a part of the price 
which he paid for human redemption. 

2. They were years of obscurity and thus a type 
of life in its commonest aspect. The desire to do 
something great and good is common to man, and a 
proof of his immortality. But most human lives 
are spent in obscurity. To have no opportunity for 
executing plans of benevolence, to spend life in the 
dull routine of monotonous duties — this is a hard for- 
tune. How hard it is for one whose soul has been 
vitalized by the grand truths of the Gospel, and who 
longs to see others share his hope of eternal life, to 
labor during long years and see no fruits follow his 
toil. But such was the experience of Jesus. Thirty 



CHILDHOOD AND YOUTH OF JESUS. 41 

years were spent in obscurity among the highlanders 
of Nazareth. Few could understand him. It was 
necessary for him, however much he might desire to 
be in the things of his Father, to spend those years, 
fruitless apparently as to results, in the obscure vil- 
lage among the hills. That is the commonest aspect 
of human life, and therein He is truly our brother. 

3. They were years of preparation, and thus a 
model for all who would accomplish any great and 
good thing in life. It is an instructive fact that the 
Son of God spent thirty years of silent preparation 
for his public work. "What a warning for novices 
who rush into holy places where angels would trem- 
ble to be placed ! The need was as great then as 
now ; the moral darkness was as thick then as now ; 
at every sweep of the pendulum a soul entered the 
spiritual world ; yet the Son of God did not hasten 
forth and lift up the voice of warning, but spent 
thirty years in silent preparation at Nazareth. He 
was no enthusiast. His example is a warning to 
those who, in an age which is so impatient of delay, 
do not hesitate to undertake the cure of souls at a 
time when they ought to be spending years in com- 
munion with God and their own hearts. 

4. They were years of obedience, and thus an ex- 
ample for all pious youth. He went with his parents* 



42 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

to Nazareth and was subject to them. He did not 
desire to be released from parental authority. He 
uttered no complaints about the trammels of his ob- 
scure home. He did not long to go out into the 
great world to push his fortunes. He obeyed per- 
fectly the parental law, " Honor thy father and thy 
mother." He performed cheerfully all the behests 
of his earthly parents. "What a lesson for those who 
grow restless under the restraints of home. 

5. Of these years there is enough revealed to us 
to show that it is impossible to commit the keeping 
of our souls in their highest interests into the hands 
of others. Know ye not that I must be in the things 
of my Father ? There is one problem, that of con- 
version, which every human being must solve for 
himself. On the side of the soul which looks to- 
wards eternity, it is but little help that we can get 
from a fellow creature. The renewal of the soul is 
a work which is accomplished in secrecy, with none 
but God to witness the struggle. Enter into thy 
closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to 
thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father 
which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. 



THE PERFECT MAN. 43 



CHAPTER m. 

THE PEBFECT MAN. 

About the beginning of the year twenty-seven 
Jesus left Nazareth and took up his abode at Caper- 
naum. The immediate cause of this change was the 
treatment which he received at the hands of his 
townsmen. They could not honor the young man 
whom they had known from childhood, and enraged 
by the sermon which he preached in their synagogue 
after he had returned from his ministry in Judea, 
thrust him out of the city, and brought him to a 
brow of the mountain on which the town was built, 
so as to cast him down the cliff. 

Many questions present themselves in connection 
with this last service in the synagogue where the 
sabbaths of his youth had been spent. His career 
as a teacher had already begun ; he had waited 
upon the ministry of John ; he had passed through 
those days of strange trial with the Power of dark- 
ness in the desert, and had performed two wonders 



44 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

at Cana, a village seven miles north of Nazareth. 
His word was with power and his fame spread 
throughout all the country. He had entered upon 
his Father's business, and when he came to Nazareth, 
where he had been brought up, no doubt the syna- 
gogue was thronged with a multitude eager to see 
and hear him. Having been invited by the Ruler of 
the synagogue he read from the Roll a passage from 
the Prophecy of Isaiah : " The Spirit of the Lord is 
upon me, because he hath annointed me to preach 
the gospel to the poor ; he hath sent me to heal the 
broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the cap- 
tives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at 
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the accepta- 
ble year of the Lord." These words formed the 
theme of his discourse. The first result was wonder at 
the gracious words which he uttered ; the second was 
an attempt upon his life, because his townsmen could 
not endure the presumption of the youth whom they 
had known from a child : " Is not this Joseph's 
son?" 

Jesus left Nazareth and came and dwelt at Caper- 
naum, which is upon the sea coast. Here upon the 
banks of the beautiful lake of Gennesaret was the 
second home of Jesus. A very common way of re- 
garding the life of Jesus makes him an unreal being, 



THE PERFECT MAX. 45 

a being not of flesh and blood and having no local 
habitation ; but it is certain that the journey from 
the hills of Nazareth down to the beautiful sea was 
made, and that he sought out in the busy town of 
Capernaum a family with which ho dwelt. If the 
life of Jesus is a model one, and if he was tried in 
all the ways in which other men are tried, he must, 
during the journey to Capernaum after having been 
thrust from the home of his youth, have earnestly 
lifted up his heart in prayer to his Father in Heaven. 
Jesus fixed the abode of his active manhood at 
Capernaum, situated probably in the northern part 
of the plain of Gennesaret. About midway of the 
western coast of the sea of Tiberius, which is a beauti- 
ful inland lake of volcanic origin, the hills retire and 
form a triangular plain, four miles in length and two 
in breadth, of great beauty and fertility. Josephus 
calls it " the ambition of nature," " a happy conten- 
tion of the seasons." "When Jesus fixed his abode 
at Capernaum, the region around this inland lake, 
leaving out the Capital city, was the most densely 
peopled of all Palestine. There were nine cities on 
the immediate coast of the lake and numerous vil- 
lages on the hill-sides. The warm springs were cele- 
brated, owing to the mildness of the climate, arising 
from the great depression of the region below the 



46 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

level of the sea, this place formed a kind of winter 
resort. It was situated also on the track of commerce 
from the east to the west to the Mediterranean, and 
sonth-west to Egypt. The shore of the lake was 
lined with villas and its surface was dotted with 
sailso The Roman soldier was here and the tax- 
gatherer, both emblems of the presence of a foreign 
power. The long caravans from Damascus passed 
on to Egypt. The husbandman sowed his seed in 
the fertile plains, and the fisherman cast his net into 
the waters, or dried it upon the rocks of the shore. It 
was a scene of busy Jewish and Roman life. Here Je- 
sus fixed his headquarters. The cities and villages 
have passed away. The hum of industry and traffic is 
no more heard. Silence reigns where once many thou- 
sand busy brains schemed from morning until eve- 
ning. But the general features of nature remain 
unchanged. There are the same hills and valleys, 
and the same beautiful lake as when Jesus became 
a citizen of Capernaum. 

» McCheyne beautifully expresses the thoughts 
which arise in the mind of the Christian standing 
upon the shore of Tiberias : 

How pleasant to me thy deep blue waye, 

O sea of Galilee ! 
For the glorious One who came to save 

Hath often stood by thee. 



THE PERFECT MAN. 47 

But who was this young man who came down 
from the hills of Nazareth and took up his abode in 
this busy centre of life at Capernaum ? It is cer- 
tain that he had a character among the people of 
this lake shore ; he could not go in and out before 
them, attend the synagogue on sabbath days and use 
the divine faculty of speech, without being regarded 
by them in a definite light. The cultured Roman 
esteemed him perhaps as a philosopher, equal to his 
own Seneca ; the rude soldier scorned him as an 
idle wanderer ; the proud Pharisee from Jerusalem 
looked upon him with contempt, while a few of the 
more thoughtful revered him as a prophet, and found 
in him true rest for the longings of their souls. 
What a vast difference oftentimes there is between 
the estimate of a great man entertained by his towns- 
men and that formed of him by the men of after 
generations in view of the results of the words which 
he uttered and the works which he performed! 
How difficult it is even now, after eighteen centuries, 
to form an estimate of the Perfect Man ! Who is able 
to view the elements of this beautiful character and 
answer the question, What was Jesus ? Who was 
Jesus ? What was he as to the soul ? Let us en- 
deavor to analyze this most beautiful character 
which ever appeared in the sphere of human exis- 



4$ TEE BEA UTT OF THE KINO. 

tence. It is holy ground and it becomes us to lay- 
aside tile shoes from our feet. 

1. The first element in this perfect character 
which presents itself I may call naturalness. There 
is one sense, however, in which this word cannot be 
applied to Jesus, namely, he was not the natural 
out-growth of the age or of the place in which he 
lived. Ordinarily great men are the result, to a cer- 
tain extent, of times and places, so that it has be- 
come a common saying, that circumstances make men. 
The age in which Newton lived was noted for its 
earnestness in mathematical studies. There were 
many men who were his equals in these, and it is 
almost certain that the discoveries which are asso- 
ciated with his name would have been made by some 
one. He was borne upon the advancing wave a little 
ahead of his fellows, reached the rock, and became 
famous, while they fell back into oblivion. He was, 
under God, the result of the age in which he lived, 
and we practice a delusion upon ourselves when we 
imagine that he started out from among the men of 
his generation and advanced with the strides of an 
intellectual giant far beyond them. The same re- 
marks apply to Columbus. The age in which he 
lived was remarkable for a general interest in geo- 
graphical studies and maritime pursuits. He be- 



THE PERFECT MAN. 49 

longed to a race of adventurers, and married into a 
family whose library was filled with geographical 
charts and instruments. The age expected that a 
new continent would be discovered. He had a little 
more nerve than any one else of his contemporaries 
and succeeded. The same is true with regard to 
great books. They are the product of the age. A 
set of ideas begin to work ; pamphlets and treatises 
are written, and the leaven increases until one book 
appears embodying the results, and lives on through 
coming ages, while others of almost equal merit fall 
into oblivion. 

But it cannot be said that circumstances made 
Jesus. The most sceptical must admit that he was 
not the natural out-growth of the time or of the place. 
He was thoroughly original. He starts out like a 
meteor from the sphere of his contemporaries. 
There was nothing in his surroundings calculated to 
produce the character which he exhibited. He 
spent his early youth in Nazareth, an obscure vil- 
lage of half-heathen Galilee, and when he had ar- 
rived at manhood he made his home in the fishing 
port of Capernaum. Illiterate fishermen were his 
companions. The remark was often made, " Whence 
hath this man letters, having never learned ? " 

It may be said that at this period the Jewish mind 
3 



50 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

was filled with, the hope of a great Deliverer ; but 
see how this statement but confirms the view which 
has been presented. The majority of his country- 
men were expecting a temporal deliverer from the 
bondage of the hated Roman ; a Restorer who 
would set up a great temporal kingdom rivaling in 
splendor that of David. Jesus starts aside from 
the national hope. He speaks of a kingdom or reign 
of God ; and instead of urging his countrymen to 
throw off the yoke of the Roman, he says, " Render 
to Csesar the things that are Csesar's." " Blessed 
are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the 
children of God." 

He is singularly free from prejudice. There is no 
national egotism about him. It is almost impossi- 
ble for ordinary men to escape being tinged with the 
views and feelings of their countrymen ; yea, it is 
considered a virtue not to be ashamed of ones birth- 
place, and it is remarkable how much geography has 
to do with the opinions of men. It is impossible 
for us to escape the influence of our little town. 
There was not, however, the least bit of provincial- 
ism about Jesus. It is a little singular that this 
carpenter's son, from the obscure village of Nazareth, 
who had never been more than seventy miles from 
home, should be as thorough a cosmopolitan as the 



THE PERFECT MAN. 51 

best traveled man of any age. Born a Jew, he is 
remarkably free from the national prejudices which 
ran in the very blood of those favorites of heaven. 
His character and the tone of his ethical system are 
uncongenial with the place in which he lived. As a 
consequence of this universal world-spirit, he is na- 
tural in all the relations which he assumes. 

How naturally Jesus fills the office of teacher ! He 
addresses the multitude which thronged around him 
with the skill of the practiced orator. He had 
been trained in no school, and yet, without 
the least trepidation, he takes up the office of in- 
structor. He goes through no previous process of 
discipline, and yet is not in the least intimidated by 
the presence of the skilled Scribe or proud Pharisee. 
He was natural in every position in which he was 
placed ; he seems to have been born for it. In his 
conduct there is no striving to maintain a character. 
He is always at home. There is no assuming of airs, 
nor mannerism or eccentricity, that last failing of 
great minds. There are but few men who can meek- 
ly wear renown, but here is an instance of a young 
man, from an obscure position in society, who was 
not spoiled when his fame was noised abroad 
throughout all the country. He uttered his message 
naturally ; there was no hesitancy or doubt in his 



52 THE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

words. He talked about the most stupendous sub- 
jects which can engage the human mind as calmly as 
you would tell a story to your little child by the fire- 
side. Pascal remarks : " Jesus Christ speaks of the 
sublimest subjects in a manner as simple as if he 
had never considered them, but nevertheless his ex- 
pressions are so exact as to show that he had 
thoroughly weighed them. Such accuracy with 
such simplicity is admirable." 

2. Another remarkable element in the perfect char- 
acter of Jesus may be denoted by the word " symme- 
try." There was a completeness of character which 
was never before exhibited by man. But few men are 
capable of entertainiug two ideas at the same time, or 
ideas in their relation. Ordinary men are very much 
given to extremes ; they get hold of one idea and 
follow it until it excludes another and becomes 
error. Jesus showed a super-human completeness 
or roundness of mind. He was no extremist. His 
supreme loyalty to the Father in Heaven did not 
exclude his loyalty to the magistrate on earth. How 
beautifully he combined a contemplative with an ac- 
tive life. He was neither an anchoret nor a world- 
ling. 

He did not bid, for cloistered cell, 
His neighbor and his work farewell, 



THE PERFECT MAN 53 

Nor strive to wind himself too high. 
For sinful man beneath the sky. — Keble. 

He was the busiest of men, and yet the most re- 
ligious. While his hands were full of work he yet 
found time to pray. All great men are onesided, 
great in some things, little in others. Owing to the 
influence of temperament and the bias of education, 
it seems to be almost impossible for a mere human 
being to develop the character proportionably ; 
while one virtue is attained, the character by neglect 
deteriorates in another direction. Isaac Taylor 
says : " Almost every excellence in the theory of 
morals has been attained by sages, except complete- 
ness and consistency. The morality of the Bible 
excepted, no ethical system, oriental or western, has 
ever appeared which might not fairly be described 
as a splendid enormity, or a glittering fragment, 
which owed all its value to the spoliation of some 
spurned and forgotten qualities. "Whatever of 
energy has been gained on the one part, will be 
found to have been deducted from another ; or if the 
man formed on these models is examined, the emi- 
nence he displays in a single line of action im- 
poverishes or enfeebles other of his moral powers." 

If the theories of morals are one-sided, how much 
more the characters formed upon them. But there 



54 THE BEAUTY OE TEE KING. 

were no defects in the character of Jesus. He was 
never discontented with his lot. Surrounded by 
men who could not sympathize with him, no mur- 
mur escapes his lips. We never hear him long for 
better society, or say that his life is wasted among 
the ignorant and uncultured. There is a beautiful 
consistency throughout his whole life, which, when 
viewed in contrast with human fickleness, is truly re- 
freshing. It is remarkable that he never changed 
his opinion. This trait in mere human character, 
instead of being an excellence, would be an evidence 
of conceit and obstinacy. As human existence pro- 
gresses the mind gains power, new light and new 
facts are acquired, and he who refuses to change his 
opinion is unwise. Here is a man, however, who 
never changed his opinion. He never found him- 
self in error, or was compelled to make the often- 
times humiliating statement, "I was mistaken." 

"What a beautiful symmetry of character this 
young man of Capernaum exhibited ! How can it 
be described ? "Words fail to embody the impression 
of completeness which the picture of his whole life 
makes upon the mind. All human excellences are 
found, like the various rays of light, blended to- 
gether ; humility and boldness, tenderness and se- 
verity, gentleness and force, sympathy without maw- 



TEE PERFECT MAN. 55 

kisli sentiment, meekness without meanness, and 
charity, the crown of all. The harmony of sound is 
not more delightful to the ear, nor symmetry of 
form more pleasing to the eye, than this complete- 
ness of character to the mind of the thoughtful 
student. It has called forth the admiration of all 
who have studied it. Luthardt says : " The image 
of Jesus is the image of the highest and purest 
harmony both of his natural and his moral being. 
With all other men, there is some discrepancy in the 
inner life. The two poles of intellectual life, know- 
ledge and feeling, head and heart ; the two powers 
of moral life, thought and will, in whom are they 
fully agreed ? But as to Jesus, we all have the 
lively impression, here reigns perfect harmony of 
the inner spiritual life." Bishop Wilson says: 
" The opposite and to us apparently contradictory, 
graces were found in Christ in equal proportion." 
Dr. Schaff says : " Christ was free from all one- 
side clness ; which constitutes the weakness as well 
as the strength of the most eminent men. He was 
not a man of one idea, nor of one virtue towering 
above all the rest. The moral forces were so well 
tempered and moderated by each other, that none 
was unduly prominent, none carried to excess, none 
alloyed by the kindred failing. Each was checked 



56 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

and completed by the opposite grace. His charac- 
ter never lost its even balance and happy equilibrium, 
never needed modification, or re-adjustment. It 
was thoroughly sound and uniformly consistent 
from the beginning to the end." 

3. A third element in this perfect character is In- 
nocence. No one word is capable of expressing the 
complex idea, harmlessness, guilelessness, spotless 
integrity. The impression wrought into the mind 
by his words and by the account of his life, is that 
of perfect guilelessness. The words of John, " Be- 
hold the Lamb of God," while enfolding a far higher 
meaning, contain this lower image of innocence. 
The harmlessness of the lamb, the beautiful inno- 
cence of childhood was his. There was an entire 
absence of those traits of character which so mar 
the lives of ordinary men ; envy, hatred, jealousy, 
self-seeking. His anger was holy indignation. He 
never looked with a jealous eye upon the success or 
prosperity of another. Ordinary human nature is 
so leavened with these feelings that it is almost im- 
possible to form a conception of that trait of charac- 
ter of which we now and then gain a glimpse and 
call innocence. It is an effort for us to get up to 
the level of the golden rule and do to others as we 
would that they should do to us. He without an 



THE PERFECT MAN. 57 

effort went farther and loved others better than 
himself. If any man has ever succeeded in finding 
out the meaning of this and enjoyed the luxury of 
doing good to others without the least hope of re- 
ward, he can then form some notion of the complex 
quality which I have called innocence. 

Innocence includes an entire absence of self-seek- 
ing. In the present condition of humanity it is very 
difficult to pursue the rights of self without injuring 
our neighbor ; one circle of self interferes with that 
of another. Hence discords and heart-burnings. 
Jesus never sought his own interests to the injury of 
another. There was no scheming or ambition in his 
heart. Now ordinarily those who have a tendency 
to love others better than themselves have to retire 
from the contests and competitions of life, and thus 
become forceless characters. Hence innocence has 
almost become a synonym for weakness ; and those 
poets who have attempted to create an innoecnt 
character have generally drawn one so ethereal that 
it cannot be estimated by the ordinary standard of 
human nature. But we never think of Jesus as want- 
ing in force of character. He was not too ethereal 
to mingle with the fishermen or soldiers of Caper- 
naum. We speak of good men without energy— too 
mild to accomplish anything. We admire the femi- 
3* 



58 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

nine in character but regard it as too delicate for this 
rude world. There was no lack of energy in the char- 
acter of Jesus. We never think of him as a subject 
for pity or call him the " poor innocent." There was 
innocence with power ; guilelessness with effective- 
ness. Ordinarily innocence is a passive virtue ; here 
it is intensely active. The common notion of an in- 
nocent person is of one who crouches to his fellows, 
and goes through life " making an apology for his 
existence." Jesus has never been thus regarded. 
He uttered burning words which withered hypocrisy 
and cant in its very root. There is thus an apparent 
contradiction in his character, namely, innocence and 
severity, harmlessness and withering denunciation. 
But they are at bottom one ; severity is but the other 
side of innocence. None but the perfect man can 
have a sense of hypocrisy, or the courage to tear 
away the mask. It looks extremely like fault-finding 
in ordinary men to expose the sins of their fellows ; 
but the denunciations which fell from the lips of Jesus 
were but the light which innocence reflects upon 
iniquity. He was no cynic. He has never been 
charged with heartlessness. "We feel that there is a 
tear behind every word of reproof. Man is so prone 
to reprove without pity that it is very difficult to fill 
the character of a corrector of abuses ; but we do 



TEE PERFECT MAN. 59 

not feel that there is any contrariety between the in- 
nocence of Christ's character and the words of reproof 
which he uttered. 

Such is the third element in this perfect character ; 
innocence, the guilelessness of holy childhood, and 
yet the force of manhood ; innocence without its weak- 
ness, guilelessness without its credulity, harmless- 
ness without its simplicity. 

4. The fourth element in this perfect character is 
purity. This word also conveys a complex impres- 
sion. It is honesty, integrity, virtue, piety. He was 
pure in all human relations and in all divine. He 
never expresses sorrow or regret for any part of his 
conduct. He was holy, harmless and undefiled. 
Sin never stained his soul. Here is a character 
which was built up without the element of repen- 
tance. Other characters are built up through suc- 
cesses and reverses. The progress which we make 
is through repentance. How wearily often times 
does the human being go forward, clearly seeing the 
error and resolving with bitter tears to avoid it, and 
yet falling into it again and again. Sometimes reso- 
lutions, tears, hope, all go down before the power of 
sinful habit, and the soul cries out in agony, " O, 
wretched man that I am !" In reviewing life in how 
many ways can we see that we have erred, and how 



60 THE BE A UTY OF TEE KINGo 

ready are we to say, 0, that I could live my life 
over!" But no regrets fall from the lips of Jesus 
for having done this or that. Here is the singular 
spectacle of a human being who never seems to have 
had any sorrow for a single act of his life. Conscience 
did not upbraid him for a single misstep. He knew 
no remorse. His soul was as calm as the lake whose 
surface is never ruffled with the storm. He was 
pure in himself. No thought which he could not 
wish an angel to behold ever passed through his 
mind. There was no part of his soul which he 
would choose to keep from the inspection of his Fa- 
ther in heaven. He was pure in his relations towards 
others. In him was no double dealing, saying one 
thing and thinking another : there were no sinister 
motives. His filial reverence and obedience were 
perfect. His friendship was not marred by the least 
taint of selfishness. He could boldly challenge the 
men of his time: "Which of you convinceth me of 
sin" ? He lived at times among bitter enemies whose 
sins he had exposed, and yet the sharp-eyed Pharisee 
and Scribe could detect no flaw in the joints of his 
harness. His enemies could discover nothing as a 
ground upon which to start an evil report. The 
fickle judge who gave sentence against him was com- 



THE PERFECT MAX 61 

pellecl to say, "I find no fault in this man."* The 
severest words of censure which his enemies could 
utter, " a friend of publicans and sinners," we all 
feel to be words of highest praise. Yet he was no 
anchoret, no St. Simeon Stylites dwelling on his pil- 
lar afar from the vulgar crowd; he lived amid the 
turmoil of busy life. 

He w T as pure towards God. Piety instead of being 
acquired by long processes of prayer and effort was 
natural to him. It was as natural for him to pray 
as to breathe. There was spontaneous communion 
with God his Father. He never utters the strong 
cries for pardon which the holiest of mere men in all 
ages have used, such as, " Have mercy, show pity, 

Lord, forgive." Such is the fourth element in 
this wonderful character, purity, sinlessness in all re- 
lations human and divine. 

* Jesus passed a severe ordeal in the fact that one of his inti- 
mate companions proved to be a bad man and turned traitor. 
Philip Skelton forcibly puts this argument in his sermon on Judas 
a Preacher of Righteousness . Judas had lived three years in the 
family of Jesus. He enjoyed with him the unreserved intimacy 
of private life. Now if Jesus had been an immoral or dishonest 
man, is it probable that Judas when he went to confer with the 
priests would have failed to make it known. On the contrary, 
Judas almost with his dying breath, says, " I have sinned in that 

1 have betrayed the innocent." Even Judas could not find a stain 
in the character of Jesus to go before the world as an excuse for 
his villainous conduct. 



g2 TEE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

5. Patience forms another element. Jesus had in 
an eminent degree the divine power to wait for re- 
sults, and was in this respect free from the faults of 
enthusiasts. This is a very rare virtue in such men, 
who, not seeing the immediate fruit of their labors 
and schemes, are apt to become irritable, and finally 
abandon mankind to its fate. Even good men, often- 
times, when they witness the failure of their cherish- 
ed schemes, grow weary in well doing. Jesus had 
the patience of true enthusiasm. He had placed 
before his mind the attainment of a kingdom as ex- 
tensive as the human race, and the simple instru- 
ment through which he proposed to accomplish this 
vast result is the word of Truth ; he does not delude 
himself or those around him with imagined pictures 
of speedy results.* He says that the perfection of 

* If lie judged himself correctly, and if the Baptist described 
him well when he compared him to a lamb, and, we may add, if 
his biographers have delineated his character faithfully, Christ 
was one naturally contented with obscurity, wanting the restless 
desire for distinction and eminence which is common in great 
men, hating to put forward personal claims, disliking competi- 
tion and disputes who should be greatest, finding something 
bombastic in the titles of royalty, fond of what is simple and 
homely, of children, of poor people, occupying himself so much 
with the concerns of others, with the relief of sickness and want, 
that the temptation to exaggerate the importance of his own 
thoughts and plans was not likely to master him ; lastly, enter- 
taining for the human race a feeling so singularly fraternal that 
he was likely to rej ect as a sort of treason the impulse to set him- 
self in any manner above them. — Ecce Homo. 



THE PERFECT MAN. g3 

his work will be like the growth of the mustard 
seed, or the working of leaven. "When he sees men 
rejecting the truth and himself hastening to an igno- 
minious death, he does not feel that his life has been 
a failure, but with divine constancy says, " And I, if 
I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me." There 
is no impatience or despondency in him. He does 
not rail at the hardness of the human heart and the 
ingratitude of his fellow men, nor does his heart 
sink when he contemplates the gigantic social evils 
which afflict the race, but swells with hope that a 
better day will come. 

Jesus manifested a divine patience in bearing with 
the ignorance and low desires of those around him. 
How perseveringly he instructs his disciples, striving 
to correct their mistakes and earthly views of human 
life. They were continually misapprehending him 
and the purpose which had brought him into the 
world, yet he never gives way to impatience. He 
knew from the beginning that one of those who were 
known as his friends would betray him to death ; 
how sublime the patience that could bear with this 
man during those three years. It is utterly contrary 
to human nature, yet such is the conduct of one who 
appeared as a man, lived at Capernaum, and was 
known as the son of Joseph and Mary. 



64 THE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

Jesus manifested also a divine patience in endur- 
ing the ills to which he was exposed. He was per- 
secuted by the Scribe, and his steps dogged by the 
malignant Pharisee from Capernaum to Jerusalem, 
and from Jerusalem back to Capernaum ; finally, 
after having been betrayed by the kiss of a seeming 
friend, he was arrested, went through the form of a 
trial, and w r as then put to death upon the slave's cross. 
Here was stern, real life. He was no mere teacher 
propounding his theories amid quiet scenes, but he 
had now to meet the rude shock of conflict. How 
did he endure these severe trials ? How did he who 
had wept at the grave of a friend and had called lit- 
tle children to his arms, act when the slave's cross 
came in view ? All who read the artless narrative 
must exclaim, with a God-like patience. Nor was it 
stoicism. Every nerve tingled with pain. He rea- 
lized the shame and the degradation. He did not 
summon all the powers of a proud nature and defy 
his tormentors. The sword entered his soul. He 
seems weak. Others have apparently exhibited 
greater powers of endurance. A bloody sweat ran 
down his body, and he prays in agony to his Father 
in Heaven, " If it be possible, let this cup pass from 
me." But above all this scene of fear the words of 
a divine patience ring out, " Not my will but thine 



A PERFECT MAN (35 

be done." "We feel that this is tlie patience of a 
true man, of a friend and brother, and not the stub- 
bornness of a cynic who scorns to let the lip quiver 
or the cheek blanch in the presence of death. 

Jesus exhibits this patience in every relation and 
circumstance of life ; in little things as well as upon 
great occasions. The soul is nerved up to endur- 
ance by great occasions ; while little vexing cares, 
like summer flies, annoy and cause fretfulness. Jesus 
is always the same. He is always simple, natural ; 
nothing disturbs the even balance of his soul. 

6. The last cluster of excellences in his character 
which I will notice may be denoted by the word 
spiritualness. "While he was in the world he was 
not of the world. He was singularly free from the 
aims, motives, and pursuits of ordinary men. Gross 
materialism weighs down the souls of almost all men; 
they live for the body. Their constant questions are, 
" What shall we eat ? and wherewithal shall we be 
clothed? " Viewing men exclusively with reference 
to ordinary life we could seldom infer that they are 
spiritual beings destined in a few hours to enter 
upon the endless pursuits of a future world. Jesus is 
an exception to the rule. While surrounded by the 
forms of the world, he moved about as a being of an 
altogether different sphere.. " I am from above, ye are 



66 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

from beneath." He did not gather around him the 
sweet charities of an earthly home. He was a 
stranger to ambition, to the desire of power, and the 
love of money, passions which sway such a vast mul- 
titude of men. He was, in the truest sense of the 
word, a Pilgrim living by faith and not by sight. He 
was a man of prayer ; intercourse with God his 
Father and communion with spiritual beings was his 
habit. He had a strong hold upon the invisible and 
spiritual world. It was his meat to do the will of 
God. There was an artlessness about him which is 
in marked contrast with the secret arts of pretenders 
and fanatics. He exhibited a beautiful uniform 
piety which puts to shame the varying piety of even 
the best Christians. It is impossible fully to por- 
tray the beautiful spiritualness of Jesus. It com- 
bines in one person all the excellences which it is fc 
customary to ascribe to human goodness ; activity, 
contemplativeness, uniformity ; faith, gentleness, pa- 
tience ; forbearance, hope, charity. In his conduct 
of life he disregarded neither the soul, nor yet the 
body, but subordinated the claims of the one to the 
other in proportion to their respective value. There 
is no one element in the character of Jesus so attrac- 
tive as his wholesome piety. He belonged to another 
sphere than that of the earth. 



THE PERFECT MAN. 67 

Such is the character of Jesus. How feeble our 
conceptions of it are ! From childhood we have 
been familiar with the narrative of his life, and can- 
not feel the impression which it would make upon 
the mind of one who should read it for the first 
time. Coleridge remarks : "Truths of all others the 
most awful and interesting are too often considered 
as so true that they lose all the power of truth, 
and lie bed-ridden in the dormitory of the soul, 
side by side with the most despised and exploded- 
error." The same remark is true with regard to our 
impression of the character of Jesus. Familiarity 
breeds coldness. And even if our moral sense were 
not blunted by sin and familiarity, what finite mind 
could portray the character of Jesus as a whole ! 
We gain glimpses of the beauty of parts. It is like 
picking a flower to pieces and admiring the frag- 
ments, or like selecting points in a beautiful land- 
scape for description. The character of Jesus is 
unique. 

"His life was gentle, and the elements 

So mixed in Him that nature might stand tip 

And say to all the world : 'This was a man.' " 

The homely words of "old honest Decker" have 
a Christian as well as bold ring in them : 



£3 THE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

1 « The best of men 
That e'er wore earth about him, was a sufferer : 
A soft, meek, patient, humble, tranquil spirit : 
The first true gentleman that ever breathed." 

Men who have had little or no sympathy with the 
doctrine and aims of Jesus, have been compelled 
to adniire His greatness and eulogise His character. 
William Hazlitt says : " There is something in the 
character of Christ, too, (leaving religious faith 
quite out of the question) of more sweetness and 
majesty, and more likely to work a change in the 
mind of man, by the contemplation of its idea alone, 
than any to be found in history, whether actual or 
feigned. This character is that of a sublime hu- 
manity, such as was never seen on earth before nor 
since." The eulogy of Jean Jacques Rousseau is 
well known : " Is it possible that he whose history 
the gospel records can be but a mere man ? Does 
he speak in the tone of an enthusiast, or of an am- 
bitious sectary ? What mildness, what purity in his 
manners ! What touching grace in his instructions, 
what elevation in his maxims ! what profound wis- 
dom in his discourses ! what presence of mind ! 
what ingenuity, and what justness in his answers! 
what government of his passions ! What prejudice, 
what blindness or ill faith must that be which dares 
to compare the son of Sophroniscus with the son 



THE PERFECT MAN. 69 

of Mary ! What a difference between the two ! 
Socrates dying without pain, without disgrace, 
easily sustains his part to the last. The death of 
Socrates philosophizing tranquilly with his friends, 
is the mildest that could be desired : that of Jesus 
expiring in torments, injured, mocked, cursed by 
the people, is the most horrible that can be feared. 
Socrates, taking the empoisened cup, blesses him 
who presents it to him with tears. Jesus, in the 
midst of a frightful punishment, prays for his en- 
raged executioners. Yes, if the life and death of 
Socrates are those of a sage, the life and death of 
Jesus are those of a God." The romancing Eenan 
says : " "Whatever may be the surprises of the 
future, Jesus will never be surpassed. His worship 
will grow young, without ceasing; his legend will 
call forth tears without end; his sufferings will 
melt the noblest hearts ; all ages will proclaim, that 
among the sons of men, there is none born greater 
than Jesus." Poor Shelley, if he had the heart to 
blaspheme, had also the sagacity to write these 
words : " The being who has influenced in the most 
memorable manner the opinions and the fortunes of 
the human species is Jesus Christ. At this day his 
name is connected with the devotional feelings of 
two hundred millions of the human race. The in- 



70 TEE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

stitutions of the most civilized portion of the globe 
derive their authority from the sanction of his doc- 
trines ; he is the hero, the God of our popular re- 
ligion. His extraordinary genius, the wide and 
rapid effect of his unexampled doctrines, his invin- 
cible gentleness and benignity, the devoted love 
borne to him by his adherents, suggested a persua- 
sion to them that he was something divine." 

Now the question of questions comes, " Who was 
Jesus of Nazareth?" Upon the answer to this ques- 
tion all the noblest interests of humanity depend. 
There can be but two : 1. He was a mere man. 2. 
He was a man and something more. In the thoughts 
upon the character of Jesus which have been pre- 
sented there is overwhelming proof against the 
truth of the first answer. The truth beams out from 
every page of his life that he could not have been 
a man and nothing more. If there were no super- 
human element in his person, why have we but one 
Jesus? Why did human nature succeed in pro- 
ducing such a prodigy in such unfavorable circum- 
stances as at Nazareth and Capernaum ? Since, upon 
the supposition that Jesus was a mere man, the 
same powers are always present, why did she 
succeed but once ? why never before, and why never 
since? Human nature has had the opportunity a 



THE PERFECT MAN. 71 

thousand times, and in circumstances a thousand 
times more favorable, of producing a Perfect Man ; 
how comes it, then, that this illiterate youth from 
Nazareth, bom in poverty and reared amid Jewish 
prejudice, should be the only one? Here is a 
problem which rationalism cannot solve. If Jesus 
is a mere outgrowth of human nature, as Eenan and 
others would have us believe, his character is a 
greater miracle than all the miracles connected 
with his birth and life. Why should this youth of 
Nazareth alone be the most innocent, pure, original, 
consistent, patient, spiritual of men ? The perfect 
character of Jesus and the circumstances in which it 
was developed necessitate the presence of a super- 
natural element. He was a man and something 
more. "What was that "something more?" Either a 
superhuman but created element or an uncreated 
one — either God or something on this side of God. 
As it is impossible for the human soul to explore 
the whole world of created intelligences, we are shut 
up to the single resort of relying upon the state- 
ments of those who can. We are compelled to rely 
upon the testimony of Jesus himself ; and the whole 
view which has been taken of his character forces 
upon us the conviction that it is impossible for him 
to bear false witness. We have then the " testimony 



72 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

of Christ to Christianity." He says that he is Divine, 
and the conviction is wrought into the mind by the 
study of his character that it is utterly impossible 
for him to deceive us. So that the break in the 
argument is apparent only. It is utterly impossible 
to explain the conditions of Christ's human life 
apart from the presence of a foreign element, and 
Jesus himself states that that element is Deity. 
Without this foreign element there is a mystery 
here which reason cannot penetrate. Every linea- 
ment in the beautiful character of Jesus echoes the 
words of the Centurion, " Truly this man was the 
Son of God." The perfect manhood of Jesus neces- 
sitates his Deity. The one is the complement of 
the other. As we gain clear impressions of his per- 
fect humanity, our hold of the doctrine of his divinity 
becomes stronger. Even rationalists have under- 
stood this, and hence have made efforts to show 
that this character is a mere poetic invention or 
myth. But this resort fails them, for, as Theodore 
Parker remarks, " It would have taken a Jesus to 
forge a Jesus." "This is a character, Channing says, 
wholly remote from human conception." If we 
deny that there was a real person called Jesus who 
lived at Nazareth and Capernaum, then we destroy 
the foundations of all history; if we accept the 



THE PERFECT MAN. 73 

narrative of his life as a genuine historical docu- 
ment, then we are led through his humanity to the 
conclusion of his Divinity. " Behold the man!" 
leads directly to the other : " Truly this man was 
the Son of God." 

It seems to be well to adopt the mode of argu- 
ment traced in these pages in order to arrive at the 
Divinity of Jesus. Formerly the nature of contro- 
versy rendered it more proper to begin with the 
Divine element, but at the present time, since it is 
the fashion to eulogize the founder of Christianity 
as a man, it seems best to show that the perfect 
manhood of Jesus infers his Divinity. Besides, this 
mode of proof has an advantage in this respect: 
there are many persons, who, while they would be 
repelled by the argument beginning with the super- 
natural element, would be attracted by the perfect 
humanity of Jesus. There is thus common ground 
to stand upon, and we may lead them from the 
lower view of the character of Jesus to the higher ; 
from Jesus as a man to Jesus as Divine. 

We must not permit this mode of viewing Jesus 
to diminish our reverence for him. "We must not 
substitute a mere hero for our God. Jesus is noth- 
ing to us, if he is a mere man. The eternal interests 
of the soul cannot be placed in the care of a created 
4 



74 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

being. One hindrance with which those who were 
with him when upon earth had to contend, was the 
physical form of his person. Let us beware also. 
Truth is all, the outward setting comparatively 
nothing. Hence, it may be, arises also the silence of 
the narrative with regard to locality and outward 
surroundings, especially of the earlier years of our 
Lord's life. 



TEE GREAT TEACHER. 75 



CHAPTEE IV. 

THE GREAT TEACHER. 

Jesus has now arrived at manhood, and an incom- 
parable beauty of character forbids his classification 
with ordinary men. How will he use his endowments ? 
Will he retire from the scene of disorder and crime 
with which he is surrounded, and pass his time in 
communion with a purer world ? or will he enter into 
the strife and accomplish what he can for the perish- 
ing ? Jesus was an earnest worker. He went about 
doing good. The life of Jesus as a worker may be 
viewed under two aspects ; he taught the people, and 
performed certain supernatural works, called miracles^ 
It will be the aim of this chapter to consider the 
first, Jesus as the Great Teacher. 

There was one characteristic of Jesus as a teacher 
noticed alike by friend and foe, namely, authority b 
He taught the people as one having authority — 
capacity, power — and not as the scribes. Never man 
spoke like this man. His power appeared both in 
the manner and substance of his teaching. 



76 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

He was as to the manner of his teaching, more a 
narrator than a reasoner. His were the unhesitating 
statements of a reporter. Other teachers arrive at 
truth through a weary process of reasoning, and, 
owing to the uncertainty of their premises, can sel- 
dom speak with authority. Hence modesty is a 
characteristic of the true human teacher. Jesus 
spoke with the modesty and also with the authority 
of truth. If a mere man should attempt to speak 
with the unhesitating certainty with which Jesus 
taught, he would be regarded as a pedant or a 
witling. Jesus came from heayen, yea, was in 
heaven while on the earth, and spoke that which 
he knew and had seen. There was no guessing or 
reaching out after truth through the logical process ; 
being the Truth he comprehended all truth with- 
in himself, and hence in exercising the office of 
Teacher he showed the composure of a narrator. 
He never dealt in probabilities, saying, this maybe 
Or that may be ; he uttered absolute verities. No 
doubt, to the philosophic mind, not comprehending, 
his true character, there was an offence in this spirit 
of authority. It was not an easy matter to under- 
stand why he, a man in form, should speak in a 
tone different from all other men. 

There was also a marked simplicity in his teaching. 



THE GREAT TEACHEB. 77 

"While uttering great spritual verities lie did not in- 
vent an unusual nomenclature, but used the ordinary 
language of the people. His symbolism was taken 
from every-day life ; the sower sowing seed, the 
shepherd guiding his flock, the leaven in the measure 
of meal, the vine and its branches, the building and 
its foundation, and the like, were employed as signs 
to convey spiritual meanings. Hence the common 
people heard him gladly. Children love to read 
his beautiful parables. 

Another reason for the attractiveness of Christ's 
teaching is in the fact that he taught those truths 
which relate to the spirit-side of our being. He 
conversed about the soul, God, heaven, hell, sin, 
life, death, and the like. Now it happens since we 
are immortal beings, that there is a power in such 
topics to interest us such as no others possess. 
How eager is the soul to hear news from that far 
off country whence Jesus came. The words which 
Jesus uttered were those which the blinded sinful 
mind and heart needed to hear. 

A poetical form is characteristic of Chirst's teach- 
ing. He taught the people in parables. Jesus was 
the Truth, and therefore we expect the truth to comq 
from him in a beautiful form; nor are we disappointed. 
The parable, a mode of teaching never before used, 



78 TEE BE A UTT OF TEE KING. 

is true poetry. The parable is the work of a Creator 
and greatly surpasses all human efforts in the same 
direction, such as the allegory, fable and simile. The 
parables of the Good Samaritan, The Lost One 
Found, The Two Lives, are true poetry, because 
they are truth expressed by a Creator in a beautiful 
form. Instead of going over the whole field of his 
deliverances, it may give us a more vivid impression 
of the manner and substance of Jesus' teaching to 
study single specimens of these beautiful forms. 
For this purpose let us analyse, as we would a drama 
of Shakespeare, the two parables of the Lost One 
Found and The Two Lives. 

1. In the parable of The Lost One Found there is 
a succession of pictures which moves before us as the 
various scenes of a panorama. There is, first, the 
Home. "A certain man had two sons; and the 
younger of them said to his father, Father, give me 
the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he 
divided unto them his living. " These opening words 
of the parable give us a view of a happy home. 
The Father and children dwell together in peace, 
surrounded with every thing that could make life 
pleasant. Every thing that can minister to their 
happiness is about them. "What infinite meanings 
of joy and rest are gathered in that sweet word 



THE GREAT TEACHER 79 

"home." Home is the best figure which we have 
left in the world of the happiness of man as God 
created him at first, placing him in Paradise. But 
sin enters the mind and heart of the younger brother. 
He becomes restless under the restraints of home. 
He, like the first of the human race, longs for knowl- 
edge. The thought of the soul finally appears in acts ; 
he goes to his father with a peremptory demand for 
his portion ; receives it, and not many days after 
takes his journey into a far country. Then an- 
other house comes into view. It is the house of 
mirth and sin. There is feasting and excess within ; 
the wine glows in the cup and music falls upon the 
ear. The young man enters and lives a disso- 
lute life. He wasted his substance in riotous living. 

Now a third picture comes into the view. The 
walls of the house of mirth are broken down, the 
lights are all out, and a great famine fills the land 
with mourning. Yonder sits a gaunt figure amid a 
herd of swine, filling his belly with the husks that 
the swine did eat. He is in great w^ant and no man 
gives unto him. It is the younger brother in search 
of knowledge. Homelessness, degradation and want 
make up his portion. He is a symbol of the soul 
sinning, and endeavoring to live apart from God. 

The canvas moves again and the family man- 



80 THE BE A UTY OF THE KING, 

sion appears once more. The keeper of the 
swine-herd has abandoned the husks, and, clothed 
with rags, is returning to his father. He has come 
to himself, and resolves to return. And O, the wonder- 
ful reception ! The father is watching for his losfc 
boy ; he sees him while yet a great way off, runs to 
meet him, falls on his neck and kisses him. The 
old mansion rings again with joy. The servants re- 
joice and the word goes from one to another. " He 
is found — the lost is found." Clean robes are 
brought, and sandals, and a ring ; a feast is pre- 
pared and all rejoice. That is the way God feels 
when the words, "I have sinned," fall from the lips 
of the repenting prodigal. 

There is also a side picture. The elder brother 
approaches the house, and, when told the cause of 
the sudden rejoicing, cannot symypathise with the 
feelings of those within. He stands on his dignity 
and recounts his good deeds. That is the way even 
a christian may feel when the ragged prodigal returns. 

Such is a brief sketch of the parable which the 
Great Teacher used to convey spiritual meanings to 
the people. "What can be more beautiful. It de- 
lights the little child, and yet in it there are depths 
of spiritual meaning into which the mature and intel- 
ligent mind looks with interest. How much it 



THE GREAT TEACHER. gj 

teaches us of the nature of God, of sin and the ruin 
which it works, of repentance, and of self -righteous- 
ness. This parable of the Lost One Found has 
brought joy unspeakable to multitudes of burdened 
hearts, and is a beautiful specimen of the skill of 
Jesus in unfolding spiritual truth. 

The second parable, that of the Two Lives, is a 
companion piece to the story of the prodigal ; for it 
gives the consequences of sin unrepented of. In this 
the tragic element abounds more than in the other. 
It is a history of earth, heaven and hell. It is a life- 
formula given by a master, under which all lives can 
be arranged. It contains the history and results of 
Two Lives.* 

In the story or parable, the first person brought to 
view is " a certain rich man, which was clothed in 
purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every 
day." This is a brief outline of his character. It is 
not difficult to supply the details. He lived in 
"jovial splendor." He was a man of the world: a 
lover of wealth and pleasure. He lived by sense and 
was as happy as a man can possibly be whose vision 
is bounded by things seen and temporal. He pos- 
sessed a large estate. His home was one of luxury: 
he was surrounded with friends who shared his hos- 
*I am indebted to Br. Robinson for this view of the parable. 



82 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

pitality, and continual feasting was kept up in his 
dwelling — " he was rejoicing splendidly." 

Such was the outward life of this man. He had 
access to all earthly sources of enjoyment. He had 
gained all that heart could desire, or ambition seek, 
or earthly taste crave. But when we turn to the 
inner life as revealed by the subsequent narrative, 
we discover that he had no moral earnestness ; he 
was not an infidel in the active sense of the term, 
but a mere intellectual trifler and busy worldling. 
He was so busy looking after his estate that he had 
no time to think about a future life, and he did not 
wish to be annoyed by any belief about it. He had 
succeeded in life and what cared he about the grave 
and the resurrection, or justice, virtue and temper- 
ance. His creed was, " Let us live while we do live ; 
for it is all of life to live and all of death to die." In 
brief, the rich man is the representative of the men 
of the world who walk by sight, placing their affec- 
tions on things seen and temporal. 

The second person in the parable, a certain poor 
man named Lazarus, is just the opposite of the first. 
The one had succeeded in life to the full extent of 
all his desires ; with the other, life, considered as a 
business matter, was a complete failure. The one 
was rich, the other poor ; the one fared sumptuously 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 33 

every day, the other was fed with the crumbs which 
fell from the table ; the one was clothed with purple 
and fine linen, the other with rags; the one enjoyed 
sound health and was surrounded with friends, the 
other was afflicted with ulcerous sores and the dogs 
were his companions. These are the two persons 
brought to view in the parable : the one as com- 
pletely happy and the other as completely miserable 
as the world can possibly render a man. The one is 
happ3 r as to outward life but without faith, the other 
miserable as to outward life but possesses faith in the 
unseen world. 

The parable contains the history of these repre- 
sentative men as they enter the spiritual world. 
The rich man is in his palace in soft raiment and 
faring sumptuously among his friends, the poor man 
is at his gate, covered with ulcers, clothed with rags, 
and a companion of the dogs. Death knocks at that 
palace gate. The poor man dies. His death was like 
his life : no friends, funeral or monument. He lived 
in misery, died alone, and was cast out into the pot- 
ter's field. In his life and in his death he descended 
to the very depths of misery and wretchedness. To 
the eye of sense his life from the beginning to the 
close was a complete failure. But to the eye of faith 
what a different aspect do this life and this death 



84 TEE BEAUTY 01 1HE KING. 

present ! " He was carried by the angels into Abra- 
ham's bosom." This outcast of earth finds a place 
in heaven, reclining even upon the bosom of Abra- 
ham, the Father of the Faithful. 

The great truth taught by this part of the story is 
that outward appearances are deceptive. To-day 
the poor man desires to be fed with crumbs among 
the dogs, to-morrow he reclines at a royal feast. 
The true dignity of man is measured by faith, and 
the true life is that which is lived by faith. A man 
may possess all that the world can give, and yet, if 
he is poor in faith, he is only a beggar in the uni- 
verse. The world thought the rich man happy, but 
his purple and fine linen clothed a heart destitute of 
all true greatness. He had no spiritual vision, was 
groping about amid temporal forms, and lived the life 
of the brute which perisheth. 

The rich man died and was buried. The no-be- 
liever's death-bed, what a place is that ! Friends 
are there, physicians, medicine, and everything that 
wealth can furnish, but what cares the soul for these? 
Life is ending, and the earthly film is passing off 
from the spiritual vision. The unseen world is 
breaking in upon the soul. Memory and conscience 
awake : " Pray you that can, I never prayed, I can- 
not pray — nor need L Is not heaven on my side 



THE GBEAT TEACHER. Q5 

already ? It closes with my conscience. Its severest 
strokes but second my own. My soul, as my body 
lies in ruins, in scattered fragments of broken 
thought, remorse for the past throws my thought 
on the future. "Worse dread of the future strikes it 
back on the past. I turn, and turn, and find no hope. 
Didst thou feel half the mountain that is on me, 
thou wouldest struggle with the martyr for his 
stake, and bless heaven for the flames ; that is not 
an unquenchable fire." 

Before tracing the progress of the soul as it enters 
upon spiritual realities, let us see for a moment the 
end of the vain show of temporal things. The fun- 
eral train of the rich man passes along. The differ- 
ent fraternities with various badges follow in the 
procession ; awe fills the city, the funeral eulogy is 
pronounced, and finally the rich man is placed in his 
vault mourned for by all, and loved by none. 

But the soul — the soul, where is that? What 
strange colloquy is it holding with the Father of the 
Faithful ! How is this soul without faith succeeding 
in the spiritual world : " And in hell he lifted up 
his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar 
off, and Lazarus in his bosom." Abraham and Laz- 
arus are afar off and yet in sight. The rich man is 
conscious of his own loss and of the poor man's gain. 



86 TEE BEA UTY OF TEE KING. 

And now the parable gives us the two prayers of 
the rich man and the answers which he received. 
This intellectual trifler prays in hades. During 
his life on the earth he would have been ashamed to 
bow the knee in prayer. He was too manly for 
that. His intellectual greatness elevated him above 
the superstition of the unlearned. But now this is 
all changed: "Father Abraham, have mercy on me, 
and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his fin- 
ger in water, and cool my tongue : for I am tor- 
mented in this flame." This intellectual stoic, who 
would have, during life-time, scorned pity and sym- 
pathy, now begs for both : send Lazarus, who was 
placed at my gate among the dogs, with a drop of 
water to cool my tongue. This first prayer of the 
rich man was not granted. 

Abraham replies : " Son, remember that thou in 
thy life-time receivedst thy good things, and like- 
wise Lazarus evil things ; but now he is comforted, 
and thou art tormented. And, besides all this, 
between us and you there is a great gulf fixed ; so 
that they which would pass from hence to you can- 
not ; neither can they pass to us, that would come 
from thence." " Remember," — this word is the death- 
knell of the lost spirit. All the past life revives. 
Memory, like the faithful tomb, gives up the buried 



TEE GREAT TEACHER. 87 

thoughts, feelings and actions. Up comes the buried 
life quickened with a new birth. The soul cannot 
arrest the whirling wheel of thoughts and feelings. 
Son, remember : punishment will be just ; thou in 
thy life-time receivedst thy good things. You have 
obtained your inheritance and spent it. Again : 
punishment in the future world will be unavoidable ; 
there is a great gulf fixed between the two estates. 

The rich man now offers his second prayer : " I 
pray thee, therefore, father, that thou wouldest send 
him to my father's house : for I have five brethren ; 
that he may testify unto them, lest they also come 
into this place of torment." The first prayer was 
for a drop of water to cool the tongue, the second is 
for eternal separation from his brothers. "What a 
subject for prayer is that ! Six brothers have 
grown up together under the same roof, amid the 
same scenes and sports. The love of brothers for 
each other, how strong it is ! and yet one here offers 
such a prayer as this : " Separate me forever from 
my brothers." 

Neither was this petition granted. They have 
Moses and the prophets ; let them hear them. God 
has given them his written word, and if they neglect 
that, there is no hope for them. The Bible is the 
divinely appointed means of enlightening the soul, 



88 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

and, if that is a closed book, we need not complain of 
the want of a sufficient revelation, and desire that 
one may rise from the dead to teach us the way of 
life. The rich man in hades urged that plea. " Nay ? 
father Abraham ; but if one went unto them from 
the dead they will repent." Men cannot be scared 
into the kingdom of heaven by the apparition of 
ghosts, and the Author of their being does not seek 
to influence them in that way. God places before 
us the path of life and the path of death, and com- 
mands us, in the calm exercise of our reason, to 
choose the one or the other. 

The petitions of the rich man were denied, and 
the history of the Two Lives closes. None but 
one who knew could portray such a picture of life, 
and its results. They are the words of a narrator. 
How beautiful the form, and how awful the truth 
contained therein! It is the poetry of Truth. It 
suggested the Divine Comedy of Dante, and is as 
perfect a specimen of literature as any ever written 
by human hand. 

The substance of truth taught by Jesus is as re- 
markble as the manner. The Dogma of Jesus has 
filled the world with books. Jesus did not utter 
truth in the form of a System of Theology, but gave 
germs, some original, others old truths with new 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 89 

applications, which have filled the world with light 
and knowledge. It would be an interesting study to 
classify these doctrines and show the indebtedness of 
the world to this one teacher. I have space only 
for a few of the themes which are found in the dis- 
courses of Jesus. 

1. The Parental Character of God. " Our Father 
which art in heaven." " I ascend unto my Father 
and your Father ; and to my God, and your 
God." 

2. The boundless worth and capacities of the 
soul. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the 
whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a 
man give in exchange for his soul ? 

3. The soul's disheartening impotence. " The Son 
of man is come to seek and to save that which was 
lost." Out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, mur- 
ders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, 
blasphemies." 

4. The necessity of a Spiritual Renovation. " Ex- 
cept a man be born again, he cannot see the king- 
dom of God." 

5. The duty and utility of Prayer. " Ask, and it 
shall be given you ; seek, and ye shall find ; knock, 
and it shall be opened unto you \ for every one that 



90 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

asketh receiveth ; and lie that seeketh findeth ; and 
to him that knocketh it shall be opened." 

6. The Divine beauty of the Passive Virtues. 
" Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do 
good to them that hate you, and pray for them which 
despitefully use you, and persecute you ; that ye 
may be the children of your Father which is in 
heaven." 

7. The Doctrine of Vicarious Sacrifice. "The 
Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to 
minister, and to give his life a ransom for many." 

8. The Unity in Trinity of the being of God. 
"I and my Father are one." " He that hath seen me 
hath seen the Father." 

9. The Doctrine of a Future Life. " He is not 
the God of the dead, but the God of the living." 
" Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never 
die." 

Such are examples of Christ's method and sub- 
stance of teaching. All who honestly study them 
must agree with the opinion of his contemporaries 
that never man spake like this man. The question 
now occurs : " "Where did this illiterate Nazarene get 
the parable of the Lost One Found, the Two Lives, 
the Sermon on the Mount, and this wonderful body of 
Doctrine ? According to the ordinary laws of human 



THE GREAT TEACHER. 91 

nature, there is a disproportion between the result 
and the cause for which no intelligent account can 
be given. Jesus explains it thus : " We speak that 
we do know, and testify that we have seen." 



92 THE BE A UTY OF THE KING. 



CHAPTEE V. 

A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 

If the affection of human hearts is a just criterion 
of greatness, Jesus is the greatest man that ever 
lived upon the earth. He occupies the supreme place 
in the love of a vast multitude. They would give up 
everything at his bidding, houses, friends, comforts, 
life itself. Multitudes have died for him. Here is 
true greatness, namely, a throne in the heart of man. 
What is the greatness of power, or of intellect, com- 
pared with that of an earnest attachment. The em- 
pire of power is brief, founded by force, and has rela- 
tion more to the bodies than souls of men. Men gaze 
with dumb admiration at the outward splendor, 
but do not love the hero. The empire of intellect is 
a limited one; to how few is Milton or Shakspeare 
a hero ? But here is a greatness of a new order, sur- 
passing all the dreams of men. "Jesus Christ, with- 
out riches, without any external display of science, 
stands in his own order, that of holiness. He nei- 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 



93 



ther published inventions, nor reigned over king- 
doms ; but lie was humble, patient, pure before God ; 
terrible to devils, and altogether without sin. O with 
what illustrious pomp, with what transcendant mag- 
nificence did he come, to such as see with the eyes 
of the heart, and are the discerners of true wisdom."* 
Jesus implanted a new set of ideas in the world's 
thought, changing men's notions of greatness. Be- 
fore his advent and influence upon the world men 
admired the dazzling powers of mind, those powers 
which inspire the song of the poet, or which succeed 
in the attaining of universal sway ; Jesus turned at- 
tention to the unnoticed passive virtues. He taught 
that a man might be great by being the servant of 
all. His themes of discourse were humility, self-de- 
nial, forbearance, patience, and the like. 

The results are before the eyes of all. At this mo- 
ment Jesus influences more minds and hearts than any 
other thinker or worker. As Shelley says, "He is the 
hero of two hundred millions of the race, and his in- 
fluenc has leavened every departmeut of thought 
and work." What is the secret of this success? 
"Why is it that at this moment, when the physical 
form of Jesus is no longer seen, a vast multitude 
would rejoice to die for him ? Why is it that he is at 
* Pascal's Thoughts. 



94 THE JBEA UTT OF THE KING. 

the head of an empire compared with which that of 
Napoleon is a mere bauble ? Leaving out of view, 
for the present, the element of supernatural power, 
and studying the matter from the human side, we 
find one secret of his success in this, he was a Man 
of sympathy. Jesus wept. 

It cannot be denied that there is mingled in the 
fortunes of the human race more of sorrow than of 
joy. There is gladness in the earth, and the birds 
sing on every branch ; there is gladness, too, in hu- 
man hearts. It would be wrong to think of the 
world as a dark prison without one ray of light. The 
smile of God is still upon the earth, but there is in 
human life more of pain than of joy. There is the 
mystery of sin, the shadow of death, and the burden 
of guilt. "Weary and heavy laden is the true de- 
scription of the soul. Now Jesus became a power 
in the world through the capacity of sympathy. 
There is nothing so attractive in the natural charac- 
ter of Jesus as his wholesome sympathy. It was 
not mere sentimentalism. He did not take delight 
in stirring up the dregs of human nature ; nor did he 
teach men to derive a sullen satisfaction from re- 
peating their woes. His sympathy was health-giving. 
It is one thing to portray the burdens of the soul 
and quite another to take them up and relieve them. 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY 95 

Neither was his sympathy mere pity. An angel can 
pity but cannot sympathize. Jesus did not stand upon 
the outer circle of human woe and look down in 
mute pity on the weary and heavy laden ; he en- 
tered the human sphere in order to help. He be- 
came of the same nature with the sorrowful. He was 
not an angel, nor intellect, nor power, but a man of 
sorrows, and acquainted with grief. It is remarka- 
ble what power there is in suffering to draw men 
near to each other. Let a ship spring a leak and be 
in danger of sinking : before the selfish struggle for 
life comes, the passengers, who were but strangers 
while the voyage was one of safety, are now drawn 
near to each other ; they speak of the common ca- 
lamity, of their hopes and' fears. The conventional- 
ities which the world puts between human hearts 
melt away like mist in the presence of great suffer- 
ing. So the human race draws near to the Man of 
sorrows. There is a natural power in the suffering 
humanity of Jesus to attract the soul which does 
not exist in anything else. We have not an high 
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of 
our infirmities ; but was in all points tempted like as 
we are, yet without sin. The Captain of our salva- 
tion is made perfect through suffering. 

1. The sympathy of Jesus with human suffering 



96 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING, 

appears in his teaching. I have before remarked 
that one characteristic of Christ's teaching is de- 
noted by the word authority, or capacity; he was 
not a mere human reasoner, arriving at conclusions 
through premises, but a narrator of things which he 
had seen and known in the spiritual world. Here 
we have another marked characteristic, namely, 
sympathy with sorrow. This trait marks his mode 
of teaching off from that of all others. Of sickly 
sentimentalism we have enough, but little of the life- 
giving sympathy which the words of Jesus manifest. 
The greater part of his teaching had reference to 
human burdens. There was no intellectual glare, or 
subtle disquisitions concerning a First Cause and 
the nature of happiness, or guessing about human 
immortality. He had not time for the solemn dis- 
cussions of the philosopher's grove. Souls were 
burdened and crying for help ; he came to save that 
which was lost. Graves were being opened on every 
side and souls rushing out into darkness ; he did not 
consider it necessary to loiter by the way for the 
purpose of proving the existence of God or the im- 
mortality of the soul. He came with words of good 
cheer for the perishing, with homely words of sym- 
pathy for the sorrowful. All could understand them. 
He was no word-manipulator, framing finely ringing 



A MAN OF STMPA THY. 97 

sentences in order to please a cultivated taste ; 
there was no time for that. He uttered earnest, 
cheering words for the poor and the ignorant. The 
common people heard him gladly. His words were 
like oil upon troubled waters to the heart which 
knew its own bitterness. How like the sound of 
sweet music are these words : "Come unto me all 
ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give 
you rest." "I am the way, and the truth and the 
life." 

Here is a new order of things. That which the 
world had made much of is little esteemed. "We 
think of Jesus not as a great poet, philosopher, or 
statesman, but as the great sympathizer with sor- 
row. Help for the lost was his great theme. Com- 
pare the Sermon on the Mount with the utterances 
of other teachers ; some had taught the human soul 
that its chief good consists in the pursuit of fame 
and power. Christ says : " Blessed are the poor in 
spirit ;" " Blessed are the meek." Others had said 
that to be indifferent to the evils of life was the 
chief good. Jesus says, "Blessed are they that 
mourn." Again, other teachers had taught the soul 
to rely upon its own strength, immovable like the 
rock in mid ocean, and that there was a last resort 
in suicide. The Great Teacher says, " Our Father 



98 THE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

which art in Heaven ;" " Lead us not into tempta- 
tion, but deliver ns from evil." Other teachers, 
despairing of any good at all in human nature, and 
sitting down hopeless amid its ruins, uttered their 
wail, " Let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we die." 
Jesus says, "Lay up for yourselves treasures in 
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, 
and where thieves do not break through nor steal." 
Instead of that bustling forethought, peering with 
anxious countenance into the future, always dread- 
ing some impending calamity, Jesus taught this 
prudence, " Take no thought for your life, what ye 
shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your 
body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more 
than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the 
fowls of the air ; for they sow not, neither do they 
reap, nor gather into barns ; yet your heavenly 
Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than 
they? And why take ye thought for raiment? Con- 
sider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil 
not, neither do they spin ; and yet I say unto you 
that Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like 
one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass 
of the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast 
into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, 
O ye of little faith?" Half of the miseries of the 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 99 

race had been caused by a kind of bandit-creed, 
namely, " Love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy." 
Jesus says, "Love your enemies, bless them that 
curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray 
for them which despitefully use you, and persecute 
you ; that ye may be the children of your Father 
which is in heaven." Here is a philosophy for the 
poor, and w r ords of good cheer for the tempted. 
Sympathy for the weary leavens all of Christ's 
teaching, but I will refer to only one more instance 
of this trait. There is nothing in the English lan- 
guage so tender, so full of delicate consideration and 
warmest friendship as the last discourse of Jesus 
with his Disciples. To comfort the sorrowful is the 
most difficult task which can be undertaken. Often- 
times the words which human sympathisers utter 
are mere platitudes. What a divine power and 
beauty there is in these words of Jesus: "Let not 
your heart be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe 
also in me. In my Father's house are many man- 
sions ; if it were not so, I would have told you. I 
go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again and 
receive you unto myself ; that where I am, there ye 
may be also. If ye love me, keep my command- 
ments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give 



100 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING, 

you another Comforter, that he may abide with you 
forever ; even the Spirit of truth ; whom the world 
cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither 
knoweth him : but ye know him ; for he dwelleth 
with you, and shall be in you. I will not leave you 
orphans; I will come to you. Peace I leave with 
you, my peace I give unto you; not as the world 
giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be 
troubled, neither let it be afraid. 

2. Jesus manifested in his actions this trait of char- 
acter which we are considering. Here the world's 
teachers had all signally failed, so that the reproach 
rested upon them of saying and doing not. They 
placed heavy burdens upon men's shoulders, but 
they themselves would not touch them with one 
of their little fingers. Not so with Jesus of Naza- 
reth. 

" The Word had breath, and wrought 
With human hands the creed of creeds 
In loveliness of perfect deeds ; 
Which he may read that binds the sheaf, 
Or builds the house, or digs the grave, 
And those wild eyes that watch the wave 
In roarings round the coral reef." 

Jesus was of the same nature with our suffering 
humanity; bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh. 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 1Q1 

All admire the pliilantliropy of Howard which led 
him to labor so earnestly in the cause of prisoners. 
But how would our admiration have been increased 
if he himself had become a prisoner in order that 
he might be able to sympathize with them. See 
him as he enters the damp prison, the door turning 
heavily on its hinges, and the key grating in the 
lock ; he lies down upon his bed of straw, or stands by 
the narrow window of the cell, looking out upon the 
sunlit landscape, enduring the stare of idle curiosity, 
thinking of home and kindred. Noble man, noble 
deed ! Jesus entered the prison-house of this world 
in the form of humanity, aye, as a servant of suffer- 
ing humanity, and had not where to lay his head ; he 
was brother of the poor, born of humble parents, and 
placed in a manger. It is part of the glory of the 
gospel that the Restorer therein revealed, is suited 
to the wants of suffering man. There is an attrac- 
tion in the humanity of Christ w^hich draws men 
close to him, and that religion and that book the 
theme of which is a weeping Jesus, is the only sys- 
tem of truth and the only Bible which our souls de- 
mand. It is part of the glory of the gospel that 
Jesus went about doing good, that the blind re- 
ceived their sight, and the lame walked, the lepers 
were cleansed, and the deaf heard, the dead were 



102 THE BEA UTY OF TEE KING. 

raised up, and the poor had the glad tidings preach- 
ed to them. It is the glory of the gospel that Jesus 
talked about " Our Father " to the inhabitants of a 
fatherless world, blessing helpless humanity at the 
threshold of life, pitying sinful humanity as it wan- 
dered on in its dark way, and saying, " Go and sin 
no more," weeping over humanity by its grave, and 
then bringing life and immortality to light by means 
of its resurrection. " The Truth which took flesh* 
touched our hand in noon-day throngs, or sat down 
with us at our hearth fires, became a heart-felt 
reality." 

The life of Jesus is full of incidents which show 
surpassing tenderness of heart and sympathy with 
human infirmities. As Jesus drew near to Jerusa- 
lem, probably by the lower road leading from Beth- 
any to the city, suddenly, at a turn in the road, a 
full view of the city presented itself ; there before 
him was the beautiful city and the Holy Temple. 
The thought of its terrible doom entered his mind. 
He knew that its cup of iniquity was almost full. 
He saw the gathering of the Roman legions, the fear- 
ful siege, and the final overthrow of the city of 
David. Jesus wept and exclaimed : " O Jerusa- 
lem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and 
stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often 



A MAX OF SYMPATHY. 103 

would I liave gathered thy children together, as a 
hen doth gather her chickens under her wings, but 
ye would not ! If thou hadst known, even thou, at 
least in this thy day, the things that belong to thy 
peace, but now they are hid from thine eyes." 

About a mile beyond the Mount of Olives was 
the village of Bethany, where there was a home 
whither Jesus often retired from the turmoil of the 
city for rest and the solace of friendship. The 
home and friendship of Lazarus and his two sis- 
ters form a beautiful episode in the life of Christ. 
It is pleasant to think of Jesus spending his even- 
ings with the family of Bethany. We almost re- 
gret that the narrative of his life does not contain a 
portrait of Jesus at Bethany. No doubt Martha 
cheered him with her business-like hospitality, and 
the contemplative mind of Mary eagerly drank in 
his words of divine wisdom, while the earnest piety 
of Lazarus gained new strength. A strong attach- 
ment grew up between him and the members of this 
family. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and 
Lazarus. Aftsr a while the brother, the strength 
and pride of the sisters, was stricken down by dis- 
ease, and after the weary watching is over, then fol- 
lows the mournful procession to the grave, and the 
return to a desolated home. "While life ebbed 



104 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

slowly away, the words often forced themselves to 
the lips of the anxious sisters, "Where is Jesus?" 
"Why does not the Lord come?" "If the Lord 
were here our brother would not die." At last 
Jesus came, and when he saw Mary, and those 
around her weeping, he groaned in the spirit, and 
was troubled. Jesus wept. 

On the north-western edge of Little Hermon is 
situated the modern village of Nain. In the time of 
Christ it was dignified with the name of "city" 
having walls and gates. Here lived a widow whose 
only son, the joy and hope of her life, died. None 
can tell the desolation of that heart and home. The 
procession, with loud wailing, moves along the streets, 
and as it emerges from the gate is met by another 
company ; Jesus, many of his disciples, and much 
people, who were drawn to him by witnessing the 
healing of the Centurion's servant on the day previous 
at Capernaum. He could not pass by this object of 
loneliness and sorrow. When the Lord saw her, he 
had compassion on her, and said, "Weep not." He 
arrested the bier, raised the young man from the 
sleep of death, and delivered him to his mother. 
In this exhibition of Divine power there was a human 
element, namely, a tender human compassion. 

There is nothing more touching than the 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 1Q5 

scene in the house of Simon the Pharisee. Many 
of the elements of the Drama are found in this 
picture. By a few strokes of the pen the characters 
are vividly presented to the mind. Simon the Phar- 
isee is a prosperous religionist. He performs enough 
religious duties to satisfy the conditions of profession 
and place, but does not trouble himself with the lit- 
tle details. He invites the new prophet to an en- 
tertainment at his house. "While they sat at meat a 
strange character crosses the threshold, a woman in 
the city, which was a sinner. The kind of lif e which 
she had led was known to all. All were surprised 
that she should intrude herself into their presence ; 
but Jesus did not by his manner drive away the 
poor outcast. He received without scorn her atten- 
tions. She brought an alabaster-box of ointment, 
and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began 
to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with 
the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and an- 
ointed them with the ointment. The easy-going 
self-righteous Pharisee was indignant, and said with- 
in himself, " This man, if he were a prophet, would 
have known who and what manner of woman this is 
that toucheth him; for she is asinner." Jesus startled 
the slumbering conscience of the self-righteous 
Simon with these words : " Simon, I have some- 



106 THE BEAUTY 01 1 HE KING. 

what to say to thee : There was a certain creditor 
which had two debtors : the one owed five hundred 
pence, and the other fifty. And when they had 
nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both. Tell 
me therefore, which of them will love him most ? 
Simon answered and said, I suppose that he, to 
whom he forgave most. And he said unto him, 
Thou hast rightly judged. And he turned to the 
woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? 
I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water 
for my feet ; but she hath washed my feet with tears, 
and wiped them with the hairs of her head. Thou 
gavest me no kiss ; but this woman, since the time 
I came in, hath not ceased to kiss my feet. My 
head with oil thou didst not anoint; but this woman 
hath anointed my feet with ointment. "Wherefore, 
I say unto thee, her sins, which are many, are for- 
given ; for she loved much ; but to whom little is 
forgiven, the same loveth little. And he said unto 
her, Thy sins are forgiven. Thy faith hath saved 
thee ; go in peace." 

I will notice but one other scene in which Jesus 
appears as a man of sympathy : it is that of the 
" Woman taken in Adultery." It is a beautiful 
picture of bigotry, sin and compassion. The author 
of "Friends in Council," gives an admirable filling 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 107 

in of the details of the scene : * " See the Divine 
Pardoner ; the shrinking, down-cast, shame-burnt 
woman ; the crowd of accusers and of unloving by- 
standers fading away awe-stricken at the hideous 
phantoms of their own guilt. For then, perhaps 
before each man rose his own sin ; not as it lies 
compressed in any one human heart, a little thing, 
but vast, unmeasured, darkening the way before him. 
Their murders and their adulteries then appeared to 
those who thought they knew not the words, murder 
and adultery, as touching them ; nor did they as the 
world knows them. Here stood the man who had 
been guilty of many things, but whom guilt had not 
made tolerant. He vanished in affright. Here was 
the strict, precise, self-righteous man, whose want of 
charity suddenly made visible to him, was an abyss 
to look into, which fascinated and appalled him. And 
he vanished away he knew not whither. Here were 
those who were strong in as much as they had not 
been tempted ; and they saw for a moment their 
future selves, or what such as they might come to 
and hurried aw^ay sick at heart and shuddering, as 

* The author of "Ecce Homo" wholly misconceives the scene of 
the Woman taken in Adultery, and the thoughts which arose in 
the minds of the actors, especially of the principle figure, Jesus 
himself. 



108 TEE BEA UTT OF TEE KING. 

one belated, who finds himself in the sudden glare of 
lightning walking carelessly through mountain passes 
where in broad day the quickest eye and the firmest 
foot are the only guaranties of safety. And then I 
think I see at the edge of the crowd a young girl, 
who had come, not from malice or ill will, but with a 
curious wish to see something of human suffering. 
And she too moves away like the rest, but not aghast 
with horror like them, and yet with sorrow, shame, 
and wailing, in that she had not pitied more. And 
now the Divine Pardoner and the adulteress stand 
there alone. " Neither do I condemn thee, go and 
sin no more." 

3. I come, in the third place, to the sufferings of 
Jesus. He proved himself to be one with the suf- 
ferer not only by the character of his teaching, and 
in the incidents of his life, but above all, by his own 
sufferings. He was not exempt from the common 
lot. He was rejected and despised of men, a man 
of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Grief was 
with him during life as a familiar friend. My soul 
is exceding sorrowful, even unto death. In order to 
see the truth of this statement it will only be neces- 
sary to take a rapid view of the closing part of his 
life, leaving for another chapter a fuller account of 
the crucifixion. 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. 109 

Three years of toil and persecution have scarcely 
passed when the storm which had been slowly gath- 
ering breaks over his head. He is arrested, goes 
through the form of a trial, and is executed by Pa- 
gan authority amid a mob of his own people. Wit- 
ness that scene in the garden beyond the brook 
Kedron, " in a recess in the western slope of Mount 
Olivet." It is near midnight. The din of the crowded 
city has died away. See here that " Man of sorrows" 
with his face turned toward heaven in an agony of 
prayer. See there those sleeping disciples. See in 
the direction of the city those lanterns and torches, 
revealing the faces and swords of a band approach- 
ing. The sleepers are awake now and crowding 
around that Man of prayer. The little group watch 
those men coming nearer and nearer. Ah ! they 
knew the place. They were guided by one who gives 
the traitor's kiss. Jesus is bound and led away to- 
wards the city, and his little band of followers is 
scattered like sheep without a shepherd. Jesus 
spends the remainder of the night in the house of 
the High priest, amid a private assemblage of priests 
and scribes. It would seem that they spent that 
time in wreaking upon him their petty malice in re- 
turn for the public disgrace which he had caused 
them. Early in the morning follows his trial before 



HO THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

the Sanhedrim, together with the spitting and buf- 
feting ; then the trial before the time-serving Pilate 
and a third before Herod, together with the 
mock-robe, and the scepter, and the crown of 
thorns, and the cry in one direction, " Hail ! King 
of the Jews!" and in another, "Not this man but 
Barabbas." " Crucify him, crucify him." Jesus is 
condemned and conducted to the slave's cross on 
Calvary; but he only says, "Daughters of Jerusalem, 
weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for 
your children." Then we hear the clicking of the 
hammer as the nails are driven through the hands 
and the feet, and now the Sufferer is suspended be- 
tween heaven and earth; his only murmur is, 
" Father, forgive them ; for they know not what they 
do." To a little group near the cross, he said 
" "Woman, behold thy son, Behold thy mother ;" to 
another suffering by his side, he said, " To-day shalt 
thou be with me in Paradise." Then follows that 
cry which no lips since his are worthy to utter, " My 
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me !" Was 
there ever suffering like this ? 

It is thus apparent that a prominent element in 
the character of Jesus is deep sympathy with human 
suffering. 

I will close this chapter with four reflections. 



A MAN OF SYMPA THY. m 

1. If we desire to be free from sin and the suffer- 
ing which it causes, it is our duty not to perplex the 
intellect with discussions of the existence of God, 
the necessity and nature of a revelation, the origin 
of evil, the divine decrees, and the like, but to come 
to Jesus and see if He is not the helper our heart 
demands ; come and see if this is not the balm we 
want ; come and see if this is not the physician we 
need ; come and taste if this is not the only water 
which can quench our spiritual thirst. Jesus seldom 
entered into an argument ; his divine logic was, 
" Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy la- 
den, and I will give you rest." Labor, hunger, dark- 
ness, sin, death, on the one hand ; rest, bread of life, 
light of the world, on the other, were his arguments. 
Come and see, was the invitation of Jesus ; our 
"ponderous evidences" of the existence of God, the 
necessity of a revelation, the truth of the Scriptures 
and the like, have too nearly substituted for it, — study 
and decide. The Truth ought to walk abroad with 
open, loving face, and say, " Trust me." There ought 
to be that child-like faith which believes that Christ 
is beside us in our daily temptations, to strengthen 
us to overcome evil, to abide with us in our homes, 
as once in the home of Bethany, a warm sun-light of 
blessing, to grieve as he once wept over doomed 



112 THE BEA UTY OF TEE KING. 

Jerusalem." * We are too prone to think of an ab- 
stract principle, a mere power somewhere in the 
universe. Jesus is a living Person, a friend and 
brother. He knows what sorrow is, and we can tell 
him our woes with the same freedom that we could 
to a parent. There is for us a human heart on the 
throne. 

2. It is not good to dwell upon the humanity of 
Jesus at the expense of his divinity. He was a man 
and something more. The two elements are ming- 
led together. "We may not be able to comprehend 
their union; one element appears now, and then 
again the other. As man 4 he pitied, as God, he said, 
" Thy sins are forgiven thee ;" as man, he wept at the 
grave, as God he called the dead to life ; as man he 
slept in the fisherman's boat, as God he arose and 
stilled the tempest. "We cannot study too much 
the beautiful humanity of Jesus, but though it is so 
beautiful, it is not all the beauty in his character. 
It is but one side of the shield. Christ's humanity 
is but the dawn of his divinity ; single rays darting 
up here and there, forerunners of the sunrise. No 
mere man could wear the beautiful humanity which 
Christ exhibited. It was humanity illuminated by 

* Henry Rogers. 



A MAN OF SYMPATHY. ^3 

Deity ; all was kindness, gentleness, purity, and 
sympathy at all times, and in every place. No mere 
man could have said amid excruciating torture. 
" Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do." Jesus meets the cravings of the best feelings 
of the heart, but there is something in his character 
still more attractive, namely, he is God able to save 
to the uttermost. The child goes to its parent with 
two thoughts, first, that his wants will be known ; 
second, that they can be relieved ; so we can go to 
Jesus, willing and powerful to help. 

3. Apart from Jesus there is no help for the im- 
mortal, yet dying soul. If we can see no beauty in 
the weeping, suffering Man of Nazareth, how can we 
transact business with the great Jehovah? If this 
meek and humble Jesus, going about doing good, is 
to us a root out of a dry ground, without form or 
comeliness, what have we to do with the Great I Am, 
who dwelleth in light inaccessible and full of glory, 
who covereth himself with light as with a garment ; 
who stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain ; who 
layeth the beams of his chambers in the waters ; 
who maketh the clouds his chariot ; who walketh 
upon the wings of the wind ; who maketh his angels 
spirits, his minister a flaming fire ; whom no man 
by searching can find out or know unto perfection. 



114 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

If we can see no loveliness in the Son of Mary as 
lie weeps at the graves of humanity, who will com- 
fort us as we pass through the dark valley ? "Who 
will weep for us in that day for which all others 
were made? No Jesus, no God: cut off from the 
Father of our spirits, homeless in the universe of 
God. 

4. Keep close to Jesus. There is power for good 
in the sympathy of a mere man, how much more in 
the sympathy of God. If there is safety for a hu- 
man being amid the vicisitudes of endless existence, 
it must be in Jesus. Having tasted the bitterness of 
human existence, having passed by the cross, he is 
clothed with our glorified humanity, seated on the 
throne to make intercession for us. "When the ladder 
is gone, the angels vanished, and our head pillowed 
upon the cold stone of affliction, we can go to Jesus, 
who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmi- 
ties. When we are compelled to mingle with the 
creeping things that go into the great ark of Mam- 
mon, let us remember him who was placed in the 
rich man's tomb. Jesus is the sinner's friend, the 
helper of the weary and heaven laden. There is a 
beautiful little poem, written by Dora Greenwell, 
which expresses the sudden hope and power which 
arise in the soul that realizes the fact that Jesus is 



A MAX OF SYMPATHY. 115 

the sinner's friend ; it is the talk of the poor Pitman 
with his wife : 

I've got a word like a fire in my heart 

That will not let me be — 
" Jesus the Son of God, who loved, 

And who gave himself for me." 

There's none on earth could frame such a tale, 

For as strange as the tale may be — 
Jesus, my Saviour, that thou shouldest die 

For love of a man like me ! 

Why, only think if it had been 

Peter, or blessed Paul, 
Or John, who used to lean on his breast, 
One couldn't have wondered at all ! 

If He'd loved and He'd died for men like these 

Who loved him so well — but you see 
It was me that Jesus loved, wife, 

He gave himself for me. 

It was for me that Jesus died, 

For me, and a world of men 
Just as sinful and just as slow 

To give back his love again ; 

He didn't wait till I came to Him, 

But he loved me at my worst ; 
He needn't ever have died for me, 

If I could have loved him first. 

And could' st thou love such a man as me, 

My Saviour ! then I'll take 
More heed to this wandering soul of mine 

If it's only for thy sake. 



116 TEE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

JESUS ON THE CEOSS. 

"With our western ideas of religious toleration and 
freedom of opinion, it is impossible to comprehend 
the hatred which arose against Jesus, and which 
speedily brought about his death. Jesus came in con- 
tact with the popular religious party of the country ; 
he denounced them as hypocrites, oppressors of the 
fatherless and widows, and as being blind leaders of 
the blind. They in turn charged him with violation 
of the religious law, with being a wine-bibber and 
glutton, and in league with the devil. The contest 
has all the interest of a drama. First, suspicion of 
the new Prophet, then secret emissaries sent to catch 
him in his words, then an open rupture, followed by 
bitter persecution, then the arrest and trial, and 
finally the ignominious death. 

To give a brief survey of the last day of Jesus' life 
will be the object of this chapter. But before con- 
sidering the events of that memorable Friday, the 



JESUS OF TEE CBOSS. H7 

seventh of April, let us notice tlie conduct of Jesus 
in the garden of Gethseniane. This was a garden or 
orchard of olive, fig and pomegranate trees, situated 
a half mile from the wall of Jerusalem across the 
brook Kedron at the foot of Olivet. Jesus and 
his disciples often resorted to its pleasant shade. 
"When the passover supper had been concluded by 
singing the second part of the Hallel, or " Song of 
Praise," they went out to this place. Jesus, leaving 
the rest of his disciples near the entrance of the 
garden, took the three whom he loved best and re- 
tired still farther within. " Sit ye here, while I go and 
pray yonder." Then saith he to the three which ac- 
companied him, " My soul is exceeding sorrowful, 
even unto death; tarry ye here, and watch with 
me." And he went a little further, and fell on his 
face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be pos- 
sible, let this cup pass from me ; nevertheless, not as 
I will, but as thou wilt. And he cometh unto the 
disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto 
Peter, "What ! could ye not watch with me one hour ? 
"Watch and pray that ye enter not into tempta- 
tion; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is 
weak. He went away again the second time, and 
prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not 
pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be 



118 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

done. And lie came and found them asleep again, 
for their eyes were heavy. And he left them, and 
went away again, and prayed the third time, saying 
the same words. And being in an agony, he prayed 
more earnestly ; and his sweat was as it were great 
drops of blood falling down to the ground. Then 
cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, 
Sleep on now, and take your rest ; behold the hour 
is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the 
hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going ; behold, he 
is at hand that doth betray me. 

Now, if Jesus were a mere man and nothing more, 
how can this agony of soul be accounted for ? Why 
was he sore amazed and very heavy while yet at lib- 
erty ? Does he not act contrary to the laws of hu- 
man nature ? This extraordinary suffering in the 
garden could not have been caused by the mere fear 
and apprehension of a violent death. It is not in 
accordance with human nature to go through the 
agony of death while it is still at a distance, and then, 
when it does come, to manifest no fear at all. There 
are no principles of human nature which can account 
for the mysterious suffering in the garden. Jesus 
cannot be classed with ordinary martyrs. Many 
martyrs have exhibited more courage in the pros- 
pect of death. Jesus is weak ; he cries out in agony, 



JESUS ON THE CROSS. U9 

and a bloody sweat runs down his body, even while 
he is yet at large and surrounded by his friends. 
Jesus did not suffer for himself. Neither remorse nor 
the dread of physical pain is a sufficient explanation 
of his conduct. It is more reasonable to account 
for it by the presence of a supernatural element than 
by reference to the laws of human nature. Jesus 
was related to another world. He gave his soul an 
offering for sin. There was a mysterious transac- 
tion occurring in the moral government of God which 
we cannot fully understand. This scene in the life 
of Jesus was brought to an end by the approach of 
the traitor, accompanied by a band from the priests 
for the purpose of arresting his master. The hour 
was at hand. Jesus was arrested and taken into the 
city. The remainder of the night was occupied with 
the examination before the representatives of the 
religious power of his own people, and then followed 
the trial before the representatives of the kingdoms 
of this world. He was rejected by the one and con- 
demned by the other. 

On Friday morning, about nine o'clock, Jesus is 
seen issuing from the north-west gate of Jerusalem, 
bearing the accursed instrument of his own death, 
and followed by an intensely excited mob. The 
great tide of human beings flows towards that north- 



120 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

western gate of the holy city. There were in that 
motley crowd representatives from almost every na- 
tion under the sun. It has been estimated that 
three million people assembled at Jerusalem during 
the time of their great religious festivals. Strangers 
were there from every part of Palestine, and from the 
regions beyond. Priest, levite, scribe, and pharisee 
mingled in that mixed multitude. Those who had 
been attracted by his words of wisdom, those who 
had been healed by his word of power, and those 
who had been drawn within the circle of his friend- 
ship were there. It seems to have been the policy of 
the leaders to hasten the death of their enemy before a 
tumult should arise among the people ; yet such an 
important transaction could not have taken place 
even thus early without attracting a great multitude. 
"While the Roman soldiers convey the condemned 
to a little eminence without the gate, he falls 
through physical exhaustion beneath the burden of 
the cross; Simon, the Cyrenian, is compelled to 
bear the instrument after him to Calvary, the place 
of public execution of criminals. The news spreads 
through the city, and every avenue leading to the 
scene is thronged with the eager and excited popu- 
lace. "While the baser sort, anxious to see some- 
thing of human suffering, were in the majority, there 



JESUS ON THE CROSS. 121 

was, no doubt, a large class whose hearts were filled 
with fear and sorrow. The daughters of Jerusalem 
weep while He is brought as a lamb to the slaugh- 
ter. Priest, scribe and pharisee move about in the 
throng, stirring up their lower passions. The vast 
multitude sways to and fro, and now and then a 
voice breaks forth above the noise : "The king! the 
king ! " But suddenly the voices are hushed and the 
murmur dies away ; the victim has been placed up- 
on the cross, and there falls on the ear the dull 
sound of the hammer as the nails are driven through 
the hands and feet. Then the cross is slowly eleva- 
ted, placed upright in the ground, and now Jesus is 
suspended upon the tree before the gazing multi- 
tude. The physical suffering of Jesus must have 
been intense. The nails were driven through those 
parts of the body which are very sensitive, and fever 
soon set in. 

But if the thought of the physical suffering of 
Jesus sickens the heart, still more does the manifesta- 
tion of human depravity which was witnessed around 
that cross. After the first moment of suspense, the 
multitude employed themselves from nine until 
twelve o'clock in taunting and reviling the sufferer 
suspended between heaven and earth. By one short 
sentence the narrator burns the scene into the soul : 



122 TBJE BEAUTY OE TEE KING. 

They sat down and icatched him there. Was there no 
pity in those human hearts, or were they demons from 
hell, deriving a malignant joy from the pain of their 
tortured victim? 

There are various groups of persons around that 
tree of shame. Here are some of the Scribes reason- 
ing thus among themselves : Either he is able to 
come down from the cross and will not, or he desires 
to come down and is not able. This mode of reason- 
ing is satisfactory to these acute men of the law. 
And then they join in the taunt : " He saved others, 
himself he cannot save. If he be the King of 
Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we 
will believe him. He trusted in God ; let Him deliv- 
er him now if he will have him ; for he said, "lam 
the Son of God." 

Here is a group of Pharisees. Anxiety is de- 
picted upon their countenances. Though triumph- 
ing over their enemy, they do not feel quite at ease. 
They fear the people, many of whom had been 
healed by the Great Prophet. Only on the Monday 
preceding, this same people had given Jesus a tri- 
umphant entry into Jerusalem, spreading their gar- 
ments and branches of trees in the way, and crying, 
Hosanna to the son of David ; Blessed is he that com- 
eth in the name of the Lord ; Hosanna in the highest 



JESUS OK TEE CROSS. 123 

The Pharisees knew well th6 fickleness of the mob, 
and what a slight circumstance may turn the tide of 
popular feeling against themselves. In order, there- 
fore, to keep the people from reflection, they also re- 
vile him, wagging the head and saying : " Thou that 
destroyest the temple and buildest it in three days, 
save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come 
down from the cross." 

Hard by the cross are some Eoman soldiers watch- 
ing the sufferer with stolid indifference. They dis- 
tribute his garments among themselves, and cast lots 
for the seamless robe, thus fulfilling the words of the 
Prophet : " They parted my garments among them, 
and upon my vesture did they cast lots." 

On one side of the patient sufferer hangs a male- 
factor, who had been crucified with him. His physi- 
cal suffering, the terrors of death, and the placid 
countenance of Jesus do not touch his heart. He is 
impenitent to the last, and unites with priest and 
scribe in taunting Jesus : " I made no pretentions to 
holiness ; if thou be the Christ, save thyself and us." 
But there are some rays of light illumining this dark 
revel of human passions. On the other side of the 
cross hangs another malefactor. An entire change 
comes over this man. His faith goes beyond the 
cross, the multitude and the jeers, and in the calm 



124 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

sufferer by his side lie recognizes the Son of God. 
He confesses his sins and pleads for mercy: "Dost 
not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same con- 
demnation ? And we indeed justly ; for we receive 
the due reward of our deeds ; but this man hath 
done nothing amiss. Lord remember me when thou 
comest into thy kingdom." His prayer was answer- 
ed, "Verily, I say unto thee, to-day shalt thou be 
with me in Paradise." 

There stood by the cross another little group, con- 
sisting of the disciple whom Jesus loved, his mother 
and other women. Perhaps even that rude mob re- 
spect* the sorrow and the sublime constancy of John 
towards his friend and Lord. To the weeping mother 
of Jesus the prophecy of old Simeon is fulfilled : A 
sword shall pierce through thy own soul. Then fol- 
lows the tender parting scene between Jesus and 
this little company of friends. " "When Jesus there- 
fore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by 
whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, 
behold thy son. Then saith he to the disciple, 
Behold thy mother.' ' 

What a scene of mingled hatred and pity, of ma- 
lignity and tenderness was witnessed around that 
calm sufferer ! On the one hand, the wagging of the 
head and the cries, "If thou be the Son of God, 



JESUS OK THE CBOSS. 125 

come down from the cross," "He saved others, 
himself he cannot save," " Thou that buildest the 
temple," "Hail! King of the Jews;" on the 
other hand words of love and pardon. "Father, for- 
give them, for they know not what they do," " To- 
day shalt thou be with me in Paradise." "What a 
melancholy exhibition of the depravity of the human 
heart. It seems as if the power of darkness had 
taken possession of the multitude. How else can be 
explained this manifestation of such deep hatred to- 
wards him who had healed their infirmities, and 
spoken words of truth and consolation. 

From twelve to three o'clock the multitudes gradu- 
ally leave the summit of Calvary. The hour of 
prayer is drawing near, and the waves of humanity 
flow back towards the temple. That temple is a 
beautiful building. The first terrace forms the 
court of the Gentiles. Six cubits higher is the court 
of the women. Fifteen steps higher is the court of 
Israel ; four steps higher that of the priests, where 
the Levites stood at the appointed time with various 
instruments in their hands, playing and singing with 
a loud voice to the praise of the most High God. 
Amid this last court on the summit of Mount Moriah 
was the beautiful building of the Sanctuary. "It 
was a noble sight to look over the summit of Moriah, 



126 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

crowned with all the grandeur and beauty of the 
temple with its different courts. The Jewish histo- 
rian, Josephus, speaks of it as exceeding all descrip- 
tion. The vast stones of polished marble, the stu- 
pendous pillars, the broad and lofty porches, the 
gates shining with the most precious metals, the 
towering front of the sanctuary, all united to fill the 
beholder with the highest admiration. Seen at a 
distance by those who were approaching the city, it 
appeared, it is said, like a mountain covered with 
snow; for all over, except where broad plates of 
silver or gold dazzled the eye, it glistened with the 
whiteness of wrought marble. He that never saw 
Jerusalem in her glory, say the ancient Jewish doc- 
tors, never saw a lovely city ; and he that never saw 
the sanctuary, with its buildings, never saw the 
most noble fabric under the sun." * 

The multitudes press towards this beautiful build- 
ing. The white-robed priests pass to and fro within 
the sanctuary. Although corrupt men, they wear 
the beautiful dress of the divinely appointed ritual. 
But see now how that vast sea of human beings is 
agitated. The dense masses are swaying to and fro. 
The earth reels with an earthquake, the sun is 
blotted out, and darkness spreads over the face of 

* Nevin's Biblical Antiquities. 



JESUS ON THE CROSS. 127 

nature. The high priest conies forth hurriedly 
from the sacred sanctuary, and with terror announces 
to the priests that the veil of the temple has been 
rent in twain, and the holy of holies exposed to pro- 
fane gaze. The news spreads from priest to Levite 
from Levite to Israelite, and from Israelite to Gentile. 
And it is now whispered about that the graves have 
been opened, and the dead are appearing among 
the living. Consternation fills that vast multitude, 
and they smite upon their breasts in fear. 

Situated probably in the south-east comer of one 
of the courts near the Temple is the hall Gazzith in 
which the meetings of the Sanhedrim are usually 
held. This body is suddenly convened, Caiaphas 
enters and takes his seat upon the throne, while the 
other members sit in the semi-circle around it. 
They do not retrace their steps or consider the mean- 
ing of the events which have just occurred. They 
seek to fulfill the letter of the law,* regardless of the 
great crime which they had committed. One moves 
that the bodies of the victims be taken down, since 
the law does not permit a dead body to hang on the 
cross over the Sabbath day ; another suggests that 
the Roman law requires that the bodies shall hang 
upon the cross during three days. While they are 
appointing a committee to see the representative 



128 TEE BEA UTY 0F THE icnrff. 

of the Roman law with regard to this matter, see 
that haggard man entering there, with wild, blood- 
shot eys. Judas strides down that long aisle and 
hurls the thirty pieces of silver at the very feet of 
the high priest, crying, " I have sinned ! I have 
sinned!" "I have betrayed the innocent!" Deep 
down in the hardened heart of Judas a conscience 
has been slumbering ; it awakes with tremendous 
power, and a hell suddenly yawns before him. The 
mercies of God come back upon him, and the kind- 
ness of Him whom he had betrayed. His conscience 
burns like fire, and his accomplices add fuel thereto : 
" "What is that to us ? See thou to that." He goes 
out and suspends himself, perhaps from one of the 
cliffs of Zion, and is dashed to pieces at the bottom. 
Let us now leave the Sanhedrim debating about what 
must be done with the pieces of money and return to 
Calvary. The hill is almost deserted. The Roman 
soldiers are there still. "Why should a Roman sol- 
dier blanch ? Yet the heart of the Centurion yields, 
and he cries : " Surely this was a just man — surely 
this was a son of the gods." But let us look rev- 
erently upon the central object of this scene, and the 
cause of this commotion in heaven and earth. Hu- 
man genius has failed to represent Jesus upon the 
cross. The mysterious cry has already passed from 



JESUS ON TEE CROSS. 129 

his lips : " My God, my God, why hast thou for- 
saken me ? " After crying, " It is finished," he com- 
mitted his soul into the hands of his Father. Jesus 
is dead. We may suppose that a smile lit up that 
pale countenance. There were no contortions of 
face indicating a clinging to life. 

Here comes Joseph of Arimathea, a wealthy mem- 
ber of the Sanhedrim, and an honorable counselor; 
he was a noble but timid man ; a secret disciple of 
Jesus, shrinking from the taunt of the world. But 
when it got beyond endurance he went to Pilate and 
begged the body, and is now going to bury the cru- 
cified malefactor in his own new tomb. He is join- 
ed by Nicodemus with the ointment. The Centu- 
rion, perhaps, helps them to remove the body from 
the cross ; and now behold in the twilight of this 
memorable Friday the funeral procession of Jesus. 
"Wealthy Joseph and learned Nicodemus are pall- 
bearers ; a little group of women follow at a dis- 
tance, in order to see where the body of their Lord 
will be placed. "Where are the disciples ? Where is 
the confident Peter ? They had all, perhaps, fled. 
But censure them not. Are we sure that we would 
not have acted as they did ? Bead the prophecies 
concerning Christ ; they represent him as trium- 
phant, a king and a conqueror. It is true that there 



130 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

is an undercurrent of sorrow, but the view of the 
Messiah as a king agreed with the predilections of 
these men, and when they saw Jesus in the hands 
of his enemies and put to death as the lowest crimi- 
nal, they were offended. Jesus is buried, and the 
officers from the Sanhedrim seal the sepulchre and 
place a guard around it. 

What now is the meaning of this transaction, and 
why should this execution have more influence on 
the destiny of the world than any other ? Studied as 
a mere matter of history, it amounts to this : A 
teacher with extraordinary mental endowments, and 
having the power to work miracles, appeared among 
the common people. He gathered around himself a 
little band of unlearned followers ; he was unsparing 
in his denunciations of the religious guides of the 
people, and consequently aroused their bitter hatred, 
and was denounced by them as a perverter of the 
people, a blasphemer, and as in league with the de- 
vil. After three years, having failed to meet the 
popular expectation of a great temporal sovereign, 
this man of Nazareth, through the influence of his 
religious rivals, and the connivance of the Roman 
power, was, during one of the great national festi- 
vals at Jerusalem, condemned and put to death like 
the lowest criminals Considered as an outward his- 



JESUS ON THE CROSS. 131 

torical occurrence, this is the sum of the whole mat- 
ter. But if we study this history carefully we shall 
discover indications of a great unseen and spiritual 
transaction. There are indications of the presence of 
certain elements which distinguish this execution 
from all others. While thousands of executions 
have occurred both before and since, none of them 
were similar to this one on Calvary. The whole of 
the matter turns upon the answer to this question- 
" Was this sufferer a man and nothing more ?" Our 
studies upon his character and actions previous to his 
death led us to the conclusion that he was not an or- 
dinary man. The circumstances of the crucifixion 
confirm this result. 

1. Is it not singular that a nation should reject and 
put to death its greatest benefactor ? Did such a 
thing ever occur before ? The case of Socrates is 
not parallel. He did not bring any material benefit 
to the people. Is it usual for nations to put to death 
the men who build asylums, and feed and heal the 
poor and the sick ? Jesus brought material help to the 
people. He fed the hungry and cured disease in al- 
most every form. Why should he be hated and put 
to death ? There are no principles in ordinary hu- 
man nature sufficient to account for his rejection. 
2. The death of Jesus was extraordinary in the fact that 



132 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

physical pain does not seem to have been the thing 
which weighed most heavily upon his mind. Men are 
■usually affected most by the bodily pain of dissolu- 
tion, and this soon deprives the mind of its power to 
reason. Jesus was rational to the end. There was 
no complaint of the bodily torture, although that 
must have been extreme. The cry was not, " Deliver 
me from this torture of body," but " Why hast 
thou forsaken me ?" He was more anxious for others 
than for himself, and when the moment came, he 
commended his soul to his Father as calmly as 3^ou 
would dismiss a friend from your home. Is such 
conduct in such circumstances natural? Is it not 
more than human ? 3. The place which the death of 
Jesus occupies in human thought and literature 
shows that it was more than an ordinary event. The 
results are before us. This death has influenced the 
world as no other one has ever done. It has been a 
power in the world. Instead of being a sign of in- 
famy, the cross has become a symbol of honor. If he 
were a man and nothing more, why should his death 
have such an abiding influence upon the world ? 
However great the excitement at the time, ordinary 
executions soon pass out of mind. There is no power 
in a merely human death for mental or spiritual in- 
fluence. 



JESUS OK THE CROSS. 133 

There are in this death signs of the presence of a 
supernatural element. What is the cause of this un- 
usual malignity manifested by the multitude ? Why 
is it so often remarked by the writers that tins and 
that transaction fulfilled the words of the prophet? 
What is the meaning of those cries: " Why hast thou 
forsaken me ?" and " It is finished."? Who is this 
hanging upon the tree of shame, with whom the 
spiritual world seems to be in sympathy? Why 
should all the lines of human history, of divine provi- 
dence and prophecy converge towards that one place 
and that one death ? " Who is this that cometh from 
Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah ? — this that 
is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness 
of his strength ?" " I that speak in righteousness, 
mighty to save." " Wherefore art thou red in thine 
apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in 
the wine fat ?" U I have trodden the wine-press alone ; 
and of the people, there was none with me." Who 
is this man, weak and helpless, apparently, in the 
hands of his enemies ? It is indeed the Man of Naz- 
areth, but Christ the Son of God as well. He is the 
Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the Ever- 
lasting Father, the Prince of Peace. He is the eter- 
nal Son of God, the desire of all nations, the Ke- 
deemer of the human soul, the Creator of all material 



134 ran? BEA TJTY OF TEE KING. 

worlds, the brightness of the Father's glory, the ex- 
press image of his person. 

It is evident, then, that we shall lose the spiritual 
significance of this great event, unless welookbej-ond 
the material forms. Jesus did not die as a martyr. For 
of what worth for the saving of the soul is mere phys- 
ical death ? Other martyrs have died in testimony 
of the truth of their principles as bravely as did this 
man. Physical pain is not curative. It is not the 
object of the writers of the narrative of Christ's death 
to work upon the feelings of the readers. Human ge- 
nius, by painting and eloquence, can bring so vividly 
before the mind this scene of suffering, the cruel jeers 
of the multitude, the nails driven, the cross erected, 
and the blood trickling down, as to fill the heart with 
grief and draw tears from the eye. We must not 
think that this is the only value of the death of 
Christ — namely, to attract the reader towards him by 
this exhibition of pain. If we would gain the mean- 
ing thereof we must pass beyond the cross and its 
surroundings. 

Christ died as a sacrifice for sin. In the narrative 
which we have been considering, we have the out- 
ward signs of the satisfaction which was made for hu- 
man guilt. We have the symbols of a great spirit- 
ual transaction. No finite mind can penetrate within 



JESUS ON THE CROSS. 135 

and comprehend the soul-agony which drew from him 
those mysterious words, " My God ! my God ! why hast 
thou forsaken me?' 7 There was going on behind 
those outward signs a mysterious transaction in the 
government of God, by which the penalty of a broken 
law was removed. Christ died as a substitute. He 
was a willing victim. The burden of sin was placed 
upon his soul, and he voluntarily bore it away. What 
were those outward circumstances of pain and tor- 
ture compared with the unseen anguish and breaking 
of soul. " It is finished :" What was finished ? Not 
his earthly career merely, nor the malignity of his 
persecutors, nor his physical pain, but the great plan 
of redemption, the offering of a divine ransom for 
human guilt. Once in the end of the world hath he 
appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 
He bore our griefs and carried our sorrows. The 
Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. He 
gave himself for us ; he gave himself for our sins ; 
his soul was made an offering for sin. The benefit 
of Christ's death consists in that mysterious transac- 
tion in the divine government, the signs of which 
darted out beyond the outward scene of suffering and 
shame. We must not permit the sign to usurp the 
place of the substance. To the mind confined by 
material forms the bodily sufferings of Christ are the 



136 THE BE A UTT OF THE KING. 

best symbols of the soul-agony in which alone virtue 
for cleansing resides. Dr. McNeill well states this 
matter: " T lie death of Christ in its inward or spirit- 
ual aspect was a complete remedy for sin. The re- 
medy and the evil exactly correspond. The whole 
of sin consists of two parts : First and chiefly, it is a 
transgression of the law of God. Second, it is a dis- 
ease in man. These two elements of sin must never 
be disjoined, or else we will fail to gain adequate 
views of the sacrifice of Christ, whicli is the remedy 
therefor. Sin is transgression and disease. As a 
transgression of the law of God, it is penal guilt, and 
requires pardon. As a disease in the soul of man, it 
is impurity, and requires cleansing. If we leave out 
either the one or the other element of sin, we will 
have a limited and false view of the remedy, namely, 
the death of Christ. The death of Christ operates 
upon the moral government of God, and thus secures 
the pardon of the guilt of sin. Again, it operates 
upon the soul of man, and secures the cleansing 
thereof. The death of Christ sets the soul right with 
regard to the law of God, which is properly right- 
eousness — a work or efficacy without the soul. Again, 
the Holy Spirit is a purchase or benefit of the death 
of Christ, which washes away the pollution of the 
souL The death of Christ thus operates upon the 



JESUS ON THE CROSS. 137 

government of God and upon the character of man. 
Sin is guilt and disease ; if we leave out the second 
element we make the efficacy of the death of Christ 
wholly objective, a transaction in the divine govern- 
ment. If we leave out the first, we make it wholly 
subjective — a transaction or operation in the human 
character, and the death of Christs sinks into that of 
a mere martyr." 

Such, was the death of Jesus — its spiritual signifi- 
cancy and relation to human guilt. 

O sacred Head, now wounded, 

With grief and shame weighed down, 
Now scornfully surrounded 

With thorns, thy only crown : 
How art thou pale with anguish, 

With sore abuse and scorn ! 
How does that visage languish 

"Which once was bright as morn ! — Gebhardt. 



138 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS, 

The dead body of Jesus was hastily placed in the 
sepulchre on Friday evening ; the burial arrange- 
ments were left unfinished, for the Jewish Sabbath 
had commenced — a day of peculiar sanctity. During 
the Sabbath the body would be safe. There may 
have heen occasional visits, in the intervals of wor- 
ship, to the tomb ; or, perhaps, the Marys, too dis- 
consolate to worship, kept a sorrowful vigil near the 
sepulchre during the greater part of the day. In the 
city, things went on as usual. In the temple, the 
imposing ceremonies of the u great day" were per- 
formed as they had been during many years. To- 
wards the close of the Sabbath, a new idea enters the 
mind of those religious rulers. They remember the 
words of Jesus about rising again : - l The third day 
he shall rise again." The dead body of their victim 
gives them as much trouble as his living presence. 
They cannot rest What if he should rise again ? 



THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 139 

As soon as the Sabbath closes, they send some of 
their number to Pilate : " Sir, we remember that 
that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, ' After 
three days I will rise again. ' Command, therefore, 
that the sepulchre be made sure until the third day, 
lest his disciples come by night and steal him away, 
and say unto the people, he is risen from the dead ; 
so the last error shall be worse than the first." Pilate, 
caring nothing for the dead body, and still less for 
the priests, except as they disturbed his rest, gave 
them a guard of Roman soldiers and the king's seal. 
They proceed to the sepulchre, and, passing a cord 
across the great stone which had been rolled upon 
the entrance, fasten it at either side with the sealing 
clay, and stamp the king's seal upon it. The sepulchre 
could not be disturbed without its being known, and 
it would be death to meddle with the seal. The Eo. 
man guard is placed before the tomb, and nothing, 
apparently, could be more secure. The priests re- 
turn to the city satisfied. 

But when the morning of the first Christian Sab- 
bath begins to dawn, the startling news goes abroad 
that, notwithstanding the guard and the seal, the 
sepulchre is empty. 

We are thus brought to the fact of the resurrection 
of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus is a very impor- 



140 * THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

tant part of the Christian system. If the narrative 
of this event is not true, then all the evidences of re- 
vealed religion vanish away. Our hopes are empty 
dreams, and life itself a vain show, ending in eternal 
darkness. This great fact discredited, the beautiful 
structure of divine truth falls to the ground, and 
nothing remains but a confused mass of unsightly 
materials ; the arch has lost the keystone; the drama 
is without any denouement. Hence, the narrative 
of the resurrection has been an object of especial 
attack. It has been called the Achilles' heel — the 
vulnerable part — of the Gospels. Sceptics revel 
among what they call the contradictions of this narra- 
tive. Strauss remarks, " Thus the various evangelical 
writers only agree as to a few of the appearances of 
Jesus after his resurrection ; the designation of the 
locality in one excludes the appearances narrated by 
the rest ; the determination of time in another leaves 
no space for the narratives of his fellow-evangelists ; 
the enumeration of a third is given without any re- 
gard to the events reported by his predecessors; 
lastly, among several appearances recorded by various 
narrators, each claims to be the last, and yet has 
nothing in common with the others. Hence, nothing 
but willful blindness can prevent the perception that 
no one of the narrators knew and pre-supposed what 



THE RES URRECTION OF JES U8. \±\ 

another records ; that each again had heard a differ- 
ent account of the matter ; and that, consequently, 
at an early period, there were current only uncertain 
and very varied reports concerning the appearances of 
Jesus." Renan concludes his account of this part of 
the life of Jesus with these words : " We may say, how- 
ever, that the strong imagination of Mary Magdalene 
has enacted a principal part. Divine power of love! 
sacred moments, in which the passion of a halluci- 
nated woman gives to the world a resurrected God." 

It thus appears that the narrative forms the start- 
ing point, in any view, of the resurrection of Jesus. 
If any suspicion can be justly attached to the record 
of the facts which form the foundation of the doc- 
trine, of course the latter is so far rendered doubtful 

1. There are four separate and independent ac- 
counts of the resurrection of Jesus, and it is unde- 
niable that these four records have been to apologists 
one of the most difficult portions of the Scriptures. 
"We find in the literature of this subject many differ- 
ent ways of harmonizing the minute details of the 
narratives. What are we, then, to conclude from 
these various views ? Shall we conclude that the 
Scripture is uncertain, or that the writers thereof 
were careless in recording details ? Not at all. How, 
then, shall the unlearned Christian view this matter? 



142 TEE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

It may not be unsafe to grant that it is impossible to 
reconcile the details of the four records. The great 
outline of the narrative cannot be questioned, and in 
the details there are no contradictions, but discrep- 
ancies, the data to reconcile which are wanting. 
Each commentator is at liberty to supply the data, 
and thus arise the different methods of reconciling 
the discrepancies. 

But even if these discrepancies cannot be alto- 
gether removed, this fact need not alarm the believers 
in the inspiration of the Bible. On the contrary, we 
have a striking proof of the truthfulness of the narra- 
tive, and one which the humblest Christian can com- 
prehend. For consider the circumstances of the 
witnesses who record the wonderful event of the resur- 
rection of Jesus. When they saw their master ar- 
rested, tried, condemned and executed as a criminal, 
notwithstanding the prophecies of their sacred books, 
and the repeated statements of Jesus himself while 
with them, they had lost all hope. While the trial 
and crucifixion were in progress, a great darkness 
had gradually come over the souls of these men, 
some of whom had acknowledged the divinity of 
their Master, and had repeatedly asserted that they 
would never forsake him. Somehow, all the words 
of Jesus, all the manifestations of divine power which 



THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 143 

they had seen exercised over every department of 
nature, vanish from their minds ; and, when they 
witness that funeral procession, they give up in de- 
spair. Daring that last Jewish Sabbath, deep despond- 
ency fills their souls, and they become weak, cowering 
men. The loving John broods over his irreparable 
loss ; the confident Peter loses his boldness ; the 
cautious Thomas concludes that he has been deceived. 
The Shepherd had been smitten, and the sheep were 
scattered. They all forsook him and fled. As the 
stone closed the mouth of the sepulchre, so despair 
settled down upon their souls. When the light of 
that first Christian Sabbath began to dawn, these 
men were not expecting a resurrection. ■ It is strange 
that the words of their Master had made so little im- 
pression upon their minds. As yet they understood 
not the Scripture, that he should rise again ; and, 
perhaps, if we had been in their place, we should not 
have shown ourselves any more able to comprehend 
this matter, the fact of a resurrection being so won- 
derful, and so much out of the ordinary course of 
nature. We view this matter after life and immortal- 
ity have been brought to light. These men expected 
to find the dead body in the sepulchre. Even Mary 
Magdalene said, as she supposed, to the gardener, " If 
thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou 



144 1HE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

hast laid him, and I will take him away." The 
women came with spices to finish the burial rites for 
the body. The two disciples who went to Emmaus 
said : " We trusted that it had been he which should 
have redeemed Israel ; certain women also of our 
company made us astonished, which were early at 
the sepulchre." 

And now comes the enlightenment of this dark- 
ness. There is first a rumor that the body is gone. 
Something strange has happened. The sepulchre is 
empty. The rumors increase. There is a running 
to and fro. Friend calls friend, and then the start- 
ling words are uttered, " The dead is alive again." He 
has been seen. The Lord is risen indeed. Some run 
to the sepulchre ; others to their friends, to bring 
them word. There is confusion, excitement, joy. 
Now, is it in accordance with the laws of the human 
mind to give, even when narrating it some time after 
it occurred, a calm and consecutive account of such a 
wonderful event. u Every true history, freely nar- 
rated from opposite or even various points of view, 
involves equally serious discrepancies, and no one 
can have any difficulty in recalling passages of his 
own life, which, had they been chronicled by observ- 
ers differently situated, would have presented in the 
details an aspect of insuperable contradiction."* The 

* John Cairns. 



THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 145 

four narrators, or those from whom they derived the 
account, were principal actors in these scenes ; they 
shared the despondency and joy of the time. Im- 
pressions made "upon the mind during seasons of ex- 
citement are permanent, while it is well known that 
such times are unfavorable to large and comprehen- 
sive views. The narrative of the resurrection of 
Jesus agrees with the circumstances which attended 
it, and with the peculiar mental state which those 
circumstances were calculated to produce. "The 
confusion which confessedly exists in this part of the 
gospel narrative, and the consequent difficulty of re- 
ducing it to one continuous account, is not the fault of 
the historians, but the natural effect of the events them- 
selves, as impressed upon the senses and the memory 
of different witnesses. If it had pleased God to in- 
spire a single writer as historian of the resurrection, 
he would, no doubt, have furnished as coherent and per- 
spicuous a narrative as any other in the sacred vol- 
ume. But since it entered into the divine plan, as a 
necessary element, to set before us not a single but 
four-fold picture of our Savior's life and death, we 
must purchase the advantage of this varied exhibi- 
tion by submitting to its incidental inconveniences, 
among which is the difficulty just referred to, of com- 
bining all these views, taken from different points of 



146 THE BE A UTY OF THE KING. 

observation, into one complete view, to be seen at the 
same moment."* 

There is thus a naturalness about the record of the 
resurrection which assures us of its truthfulness and 
inspiration. Its perfect humanness proves its divine 
origin, just as the perfect humanity of Christ is a 
convincing proof of his divinity. Suppose that we 
had a calm and continuous history of this most won- 
derful event which ever occurred, then there would 
be room for the charge of collusion. If there were 
no rough points about the narrative, then the sceptic 
would say, " These men came together, and for a pur- 
pose formed the story." As it is, the record and the 
events agree. The one is the most wonderful event 
which has ever occurred in human history ; the other 
appears to the thoughtful student to contain an ac- 
count of the impressions made upon the minds of 
men who were taken by surprise, and were agitated 
with the confused sentiments of wonder and joy. Nor 
does this view destroy a true theory of Inspiration ; 
for when God inspires men to write the truth, he has 
respect to the character of their minds. 

Having thus examined the narrative of the resur- 
rection of Jesus, it remains to consider the fact itself. 
The truthfulness of the record does not necessarily 

* J. A. Alexander, D. D. 



THE RESURRECTIOK OF JESU& 147 

include the truth, of the doctrine ; for there may be 
a true record of a fraudulent transaction. 

2. Was the resurrection of Jesus a fraudulent 
transaction ? The fact of the death and burial of 
Jesus has never been questioned except in the myth- 
ical theories of some German rationalists. It never 
suggested itself to the minds of the bitterest enemies 
of the Apostles to urge that their Master had feigned 
death. The crucifixion was of such a public charac- 
ter, there were so many witnesses, and the passions 
of the actors were so intensely awakened as to forbid 
the very idea of there being but the semblance of 
death. In such circumstances the most desperate 
adventurer would shrink from attempting a fraud so 
hopeless. Jesus was put to death, by the civil au- 
thorities. His side was pierced with a spear in order 
that there might be no mistake. And the dead body, 
after having been during a brief period in the hands 
of friends for the purpose of burial, was, through the 
wonderful providence of Grod, again delivered into the 
possession of his enemies. On the morning of the third 
day the body was missing. There may be three sup- 
positions concerning its disappearance, exhausting the 
entire case : 1. The body was removed by his enemies. 
2. The body was removed by his friends. 3. He arose 
through his own divine power. If the truth of the 



148 TEE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

first and second suppositions cannot be established, 
then the third remains as the true account of the 
matter. 

His enemies had no motive for removing the 
body. On the contrary, their object was to guard it. 
and for this purpose they used all their skill and 
power. They remember that that deceiver had said 
while he was yet alive : " After the third day I will 
rise again." The last error may be worse than the 
first, and, lest his disciples come by night and steal 
away the body, they will make the sepulchre sure. 
For this purpose it is put into their possession. A 
great stone is placed upon the door of the sepulchre, 
and a Eoman guard, consisting usually of sixty men, 
around it. But who will watch the keepers ? They 
seal the stone with the king's seal, which was invio- 
lable. Thus, so far from having any motive to re- 
move the body, they use all means in their power to 
keep it secure. 

In the second place, was the body removed clan- 
destinely by the friends of Jesus? Consider the 
motive, character and circumstances of these men. 
They could have no motive for such an act, for their 
conduct during this entire period proves that they 
were not engaged in a plot. They did not under- 
stand Jesus when he told them that he would rise 



THE BESUBRECTION OF JESUS. 149 

again. They were too mucli confused, even if they 
had comprehended his meaning, to entertain the 
idea that in order to make his words come true it 
would be necessary to remove the body. They had 
very likely concluded that they had been deceived 
themselves, and is it at all probable that they would 
at such a time begin to devise plans for deceiving 
others ? Besides, they were upright men, and, while 
wicked men, after having been deceived, may at- 
tempt in revenge to deceive others, they would have 
shrunk from such an enterprise. Consider also 
their peculiar mental state at this time. As has 
been noticed before they had lost all hope. Even if 
there had been a motive for attempting a plot of 
deception, they were for the time mentally unfitted 
for its execution. They were filled with fear. They 
denied that they knew Jesus. It would require 
"bold men to attempt to deceive the public with the 
fraud of a resurrection. Consider, lastly, the out- 
ward circumstances of these men. If they had had 
the motive and the courage, was there any oppor- 
tunity of removing the body ? was there any likeli- 
hood of success ? This festival during which Jesus 
was put to death, occurred at the time of the full 
moon, the city was thronged with people, many of 
whom spent the entire night in the open air, and the 



150 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

sepulchre was so near the city as to be inclosed 
within the present walls. Under such circumstances 
Would timid men attempt a fraud of such magnitude 
as to steal a dead body for the purpose of starting 
the story of a resurrection ? Is there any probability 
about the story which the rulers started : " Say ye 
his disciples came by night and stole the body away 
while we slept ? " Is it probable that in the face of 
the death penalty an entire guard of Roman soldiers 
would be caught asleep? Is it probable that the 
seal could be broken, the stone rolled away, and 
the body removed in the bright moon-light without 
awakening some of the guard ? If they all slum- 
bered so soundly how could they know that the body 
was removed by the disciples ? This story of the 
guard, which was commonly believed among the 
Jews, wears suspicion upon its very face. That this 
story was not believed by the Jews themselves is 
very apparent ; for it is singular that in the after 
history we do not find them charging the disciples 
with the stealing of the body. After the ascension 
of Jesus the disciples commence preaching boldly in 
his name ; they charge his death upon the Jewish 
rulers, and insist upon his resurrection ; when they 
are brought before the council, nothing is said about 
fraud. The rulers use every means in their power 
to silence these men, and certainly, if there had been 



THE BESUBEECTION OF JESUS. 151 

any ground for the accusation of fraud, they would 
not have failed to make use of it. The wise Gam- 
aliel, in his advice to the council, says nothing about 
fraud, but tells them to beware lest they should be 
found fighting against God. Agrippa and Felix, 
polished men of the world, when they hear Paul 
preach, do not accuse him of spreading a story which 
had commenced in fraud. The story of the re- 
moval of the body by fraud evidently did not gain 
credence. 

The first two suppositions being thus without 
proof, it follows that the third one is the true solution 
of the case. Jesus arose from the dead and came 
forth lrom the sealed and guarded sepulchre through 
his own divine power ; or, as it is put in the Scripture, 
God raised him from the dead. No man took his 
life from him ; he had power to lay it down, and 
power to take it again. 

The empty tomb or the negative evidence of the 
resurrection of Jesus has thus been considered, it re- 
mains now to notice the positive proof. Jesus ap- 
peared alive before honest and capable witnesses. 
Angels announce the fact of the resurrection to the 
women who first visit the sepulchre. " He is not here : 
for he is risen, as he said." " Come, see the place 
where the Lord lay." Perhaps the order of events 



152 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

as arranged by Eobinson is the most satisfactory way 
of harmonizing the several accounts. 

1. The two Marys, Joanna, and Salome, and 
others, go to the sepulchre very early on Sabbath 
morning for the purpose of embalming the body, and 
find the stone rolled away. 2. Mary Magdalene 
leaves the other women and runs to find Peter and 
John. 3. The other women see two angels in the 
tomb who give them a message to the disciples, and 
then they depart. 4. Jesus meets them on the way 
and renews the message. 5, Peter and John come 
to the sepulchre, find it empty, and return. 6. Mary 
Magdalene, who had followed them, remains at the 
sepulchre, sees the two angels, and then the Lord him- 
self. 7. Jesus appears to Peter. 8. He appears to 
the two disciples as they go to Emmaus. 9. He ap- 
pears to the ten as they are assembled together on 
account of this startling news. 10. After eight days 
Jesus appears again to the assembled apostles; 
Thomas, who was absent at the time of the first ap- 
pearing, being now with them. 11. The Apostles 
having returned to Galilee, Jesus appears to seven 
of them whilst engaged in fishing upon the lake. 
12. After this he appears upon the mountain in 
Galilee, to above five huudred disciples. 13. For- 
ty days after his resurrection Jesus gathers the 



THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 153 

eleven apostles at the Mount of Olives, and leading 
them toward Bethany, ascends to heaven . . There 
was also an appearance to James apparently of a 
more private nature, the time of which cannot be de- 
termined. 

This is the substance of the testimony. Leaving 
out the two appearances to the women, we have, 
during a period of forty days, seven distinct appear- 
ances to various companies of disciples, consisting of 
from one to five hundred. They saw Jesus, not 
once, but repeatedly; not in times of excitement 
merely, but when the surprise of the wonderful event 
had passed away. They conversed with him ; they 
saw the print of the nails in his hands and feet. They 
knew that it was Jesus. These witnesses tell us, in 
a record which, as we have seen, is remarkably truth- 
ful in its form, that they saw Jesus. If any fact can 
be established by human testimony, it is that of the 
resurrection of Jesus. In any human court of justice, 
as Bishop Sherlock shows in his Trial of the Witnesses, 
this testimony would be considered perfectly conclu- 
sive. In ordinary matters it is considered sufficient 
to ask, concerning men who claim our credence to 
any statements, are they good men and are they 
capable men ? The witnesses of the resurrection of 
Jesus are both good and capable men. 



154 TEE BEAUTY OF TEE E2NG. 

1. They were Israelites indeed, in whom there 
was no guile. Their course of life previous to the 
resurrection, as well as their conduct during the 
exciting scenes thereof, shows that they were honest, 
truthful men. No one, who studies their conduct, 
can charge them with a want of sincerity. They 
believed what they spoke, and their actions agreed 
with their statements. They had nothing to gain, but 
all to lose in life, by adhering to the Crucified One. 
So firmly did they believe that Jesus arose from the 
dead, that they were ready to lay down their lives as 
a testimony to the truth of this fact. They went 
everywhere preaching a risen Jesus. Suffering, 
imprisonment, the loss of life itself awaited them, yet 
they could not deny that which they had seen with 
their own eyes. If they were enthusiasts, they were, 
at least, sincere. 2. They were capable of giving a 
truthful account of that which they had seen. A 
witness may be both honest and sincere, and yet, 
owing to a want of intelligence or of opportunity, be 
incapable of giving credible testimony. These men 
had abundant opportunity of knowing the truth of 
that which they spoke. They had been with Jesus 
during a period of three years, and, therefore, were 
well qualified to recognize him after his resurrection. 
To such an extent did one of their number carry his 



THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 155 

prudence, that he has been called the rationalist of 
the Apostles. Thomas was an honest sceptic. " In the 
famous statue of him by Thorwaldsen, in the church 
at Copenhagen, he stands, the thoughtful, meditative 
sceptic, with the rule in his hand for the due measur- 
ing of evidence and argument." He was not governed 
by impulse, but arrived at conclusions through the 
slow processes of the intellect. The several members 
of the band of Apostles seem to have been selected 
by divine wisdom, for the purpose of giving the 
greatest possible certainty to the truth of their state- 
ments. A resurrection was such an extraordinary 
occurrence, and of such transcendent importance, 
that Thomas dreaded deception above all things else 
Ten of his associates, and familiar friends, report to 
him that they had seen the Lord. They could have 
no motive whatever for deceiving him, yet he holds 
out against their united testimony, and affirms, " Ex- 
cept I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, 
and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe." 
Nothing but the evidence of his own senses would 
satisfy him. His friends might have been deceived 
themselves, or they might have formed a plot for 
the purpose of deceiving him. While we believe that 
he had adopted a wrong standard of judgment, his 
conduct has a special bearing upon the evidence of 



156 THE BEA UTT OF THE KING. 

the resurrection of Jesus. Circumstances seem to 
have been so arranged by Divine Providence that 
the peculiar mental habit of this witness might be of 
use in confirming the truth of that resurrection. 
Thomas was absent (whether through his own fault, 
or by divine impulse, we know not), from the first 
meeting of the disciples, when Jesus appeared in 
their midst. After eight days, they were assembled 
together again, and Thomas with them. Jesus ap- 
pears again, and condescends to submit to the test 
which had been proposed, and the convinced doubter 
heartily exclaims, "My Lord and my God." The 
cautious Thomas now enters upon a new life, and 
finally dies, according to tradition, in the far East, 
after having spent his life in telling of the risen 
Jesus. The truth of the resurrection of Jesus thus 
rests upon the testimony of eleven honest and compe- 
tent witnesses. No other fact in history is so well 
attested, and all the ordinary laws of human evidence 
are annulled, if we disbelieve this great fact of the 
Gospel history. 

Assuming the truth of the record, we have, then, 
one man who rose from the dead. Why but one ? 
What manner of man was this ? Why so much so- 
licitude in order to make his burial place secure ? 

Jesus died as a man, and, as God, came forth from 



THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. 157 

the sepulchre. If he was a man, and nothing more, 
the problem is one of inexplicable difficulty ; the 
unknown element in his being is the only rational 
solution. 



X58 TEJ ® BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 



CHAPTER Vin. 

THE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 

Thus far we have been occupied chiefly with the 
history of Jesus as a man. There was a human 
element running through our studies and the topics 
were, How did Jesus appear among men ? How 
did Jesus act ? We have seen that the human ele- 
ments were beyond ordinary nature. The mere 
history of the human life of Jesus confirms the 
fundamental doctrine of Incarnation. The historian 
is brought to the same conclusion as the theologian. 
The dream of the Pagan and the desire of the Chris- 
tian world have been fulfilled. God had appeared 
in the sphere of human nature. However paradoxical 

it may seem to finite minds, God appeared as a man. 
During a period of thirty years he moved among 
men as a man ; he ate and slept, traveled from place 
to place, formed friendships, and had a history. God 
was localized, and men wrote his biography. God 
came near ; he was seen and handled. This won- 



TEE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 159 

derful being, designated by a word conveying to our 
finite minds incongruous ideas, God-man, infinite 
and finite, created and uncreated, went through all 
the successive phases of human existence. He lived 
a human life, died and was buried ; and yet his was 
an extra-human life and death. All our studies thus 
far have led us directly to this result. As it is be- 
yond our experience, it may be impossible for us to 
have a definite conception of the mysterious being 
resulting from the union of the two elements, ele- 
ments which seem to exclude each other — created 
and uncreated. Human language is inadequate to 
convey the conception, even if it were possible for 
the mind to frame it. We are familiar with chemi- 
cal unions ; the phenomenon of two substances 
ceasing to be what they were, and becoming a third. 
When God, however, became man, he did not cease 
to be God, and when the second element was taken 
into union with the first, it did not cease to be man. 
And here we are at the end, both of our conception 
and of our power to express it. It remains for us to 
study the elements separately, and thus arrive at a 
conception, as far as we can, of the God-Man. 

But here is the danger to which we are exposed ; 
we may give an undue share of our thought to the 
human element, or too much to the Divine. Jesus 



160 TEE BEA UTT OF TEE KING. 

is nothing to us as a Helper, if he is a mere man ; 
again, he is nothing to us as a Helper, if he is solely 
an almighty Spirit, unwilling or unable to enter into 
the sphere of human want. The contemporaries of 
Jesus, especially his immediate friends, were pecu- 
liarly liable to fall into the first error. They saw 
him perform the menial duties which belong to flesh 
and blood. Although they saw the Deity shining 
through the veil, yet familiarity so darkened their 
vision that they were in great danger of losing sight 
of this second element in his person. No man is a 
hero to his neighbor. And it is impossible for God 
in human form to be a God, for any length of time, 
to those who are permitted to hold daily material in- 
tercourse with him. At best the disciples would re- 
gard Jesus as a good and noble man. They loved 
him as a friend. How strong was the attachment 
which had grown up between them and this highest 
type of man ! They had listened to his discourses 
and witnessed his remarkable power exercised over 
every department of nature. He had supplied their 
wants, solved their difficulties, and comforted them 
amid their sorrows. He told them about the Father 
and eternal life. They saw him heal the poor de- 
moniac, pity the widow and mourner, call little chil- 
dren to his arms, and raise the dead. With him 



THE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 161 

they went up to Jerusalem to worship, or crossed the 
beautiful lake, or spent quiet evenings at Bethany. 
This illiterate youth from the Tillage of Nazareth 
draws around himself twelve men, and holds them 
by a friendship which lasts, (with one exception,) 
even unto death. The philosophic society was more 
than realized. Great must have been the attachment 
of these men to Jesus. When he tells them that the 
hour had come for his departure, and that he must 
leave them alone in the world, sorrow overwhelmed 
them. The prospect of separation from such a com- 
passionate and noble friend fills their hearts with 
gloom. Jesus employs the hours which were rapidly 
drawing to a close in comforting them. He utters 
those beautiful discourses, recorded in the Gospel of 
John, which have never been surpassed, and have 
given peace and strength to many sorrow r ful souls : 
" Let not your heart be troubled." " In my Father's 
house are many mansions. If it were not so, I 
would have told you. I go to prepare a place for 
you." " It is expedient for you that I go away." 
There is no thought of himself. The prospect of 
returning to his Father's house might have filled his 
soul with joy to the exclusion of all thought of others. 
But no, his thoughts are about his friends ; it is best 
for you that I go away. No doubt it was difficult for 



162 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

the disciples to understand this. How could it be 
good for them to be separated fom their best friend? 
As well might it be good for a household to be de- 
prived of its head, or a ship of its pilot. Jesus re- 
assures them : I tell you the truth ; it is expedient 
that I go away. It may not be possible for us, not 
knowing all the relations which he bears to the en- 
tire universe, to understand all the reasons for the 
expediency of Christ's departure. There are reasons, 
however, which present themselves even to our finite 
minds. 

1. It was expedient for Christ to go away in order 
that he might be removed from the human sphere. 
He was, as we have stated, a complex being, the God- 
Man. If he had remained permanently upon the 
earth, it would have been almost impossible for his 
disciples and contemporaries to have correct views of 
his person. There was the offense of a localized 
Deity. During the brief period of his stay with his 
disciples they were continually making mistakes with 
regard to his character and mission. First, it was 
hecessary for God to come among men ; that is one- 
half of the idea of an incarnation ; second, it was nec- 
essary that human nature should be taken up, as it 
Ivere, into the sphere of Deity ; that is the other half, 
tn accordance with this second part of the idea of an 



THE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 163 

incarnation, Jesus, the God-Man, after having ap- 
peared, lived, and died as a man, is gradually with- 
drawn from the human sphere. Immediately after 
his resurrection this process begins. This idea ex- 
plains his conduct towards Mary Magdalene. She 
was filled with sorrow by the loss of her Lord ; her 
soul cleaved to him. There was withal very much 
of the human element mixed .up with her sorrow and 
love. She clings to the dead body : l4 Tell me where 
thou hast laid him, and I will take him away." While 
she is standing near the sepulchre weeping, Jesus 
appears and addresses her by name in the old familiar 
tone. It is the Lord. She springs towards him and 
is going to lay hold of his person in order to detain 
him. Jesus says, " Touch me not; for I am not yet 
ascended to my Father ; but go to my brethren, and 
say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your 
Father, and to my God and your God." As if he 
had said, " Your mind is placed too much upon my 
outward form ; you would retain my person among 
you ; it must be different now. You must learn to 
regard me in a new light ; I am on my way to the 
Father." 

This theory throws light also upon the mysterious 
fact that Jesus lingered, after his resurrection, during 
a period of forty days upon the earth, revealing him- 



164 THE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

self occasionally to his disciples. His body was tlie 
same, and yet not the same. Some change had oc- 
curred. He made himself visible by the power of 
his will, and then vanished suddenly out of sight. 
They did not know him, and yet the prints of the 
nails were in his hands and feet. There was a grad- 
ual withdrawal from the human sphere, and he ac- 
customs them by degrees to the change. He gradu- 
ally teaches them to regard him as their God. Their 
ideas must be changed and enlarged. The second 
element of an incarnation must be added to the first. 
The forty days were a means of instruction in this 
second element. 

Many interesting questions are connected with 
these mysterious forty days. "Where was Jesus dur- 
ing the intervals of his appearance ? "What was the 
nature of his body at this time ? These are questions 
which we may not be able fully to answer, yet how 
full of instruction are the brief interviews which he 
held with his disciples ; that with the two disciples 
as they went to the village of Emmaus, that with the 
ten disciples in the upper room, that for the benefit 
of the sceptical Thomas, that with the seven on the 
shore of Tiberias, the more public one with the five 
hundred in Galilee, and the final one near Bethany. 
I can but refer briefly to the last two. 



THE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 155 

It was only in Galilee that five hundred disciples 
could be gathered. The place and time were dis- 
tinctly known. Great importance seems to have been 
attached to this meeting : " Go, tell my brethren, that 
they go into Galilee, and there shall they see me." 
As the time approached we may imagine that little 
groups of disciples were seen on their way to the 
mountain which Jesus had appointed them. It was 
the most remarkable company that ever assembled 
together. If there is any gratitude in human nature, 
this gathering must have been composed largely of 
those who had been healed by the power of Jesus ; 
lepers, demoniacs, blind and lame. It would be in- 
teresting to have a catalogue of their names. "Was 
Jairus there, and the Centurion whose servant had 
been healed, the widow and son of Nain ? We know 
not ; but as the time drew near we may imagine 
that assembly divided into little groups, neighbor 
with neighbor, and friend with friend, talking about 
the strange events which had lately occurred, the 
crucifixion, burial, and resurrection. The disciples 
relate the different appearances since the resurrec- 
tion. Thomas assures them that the Lord is risen, 
for he has seen him. How Jesus appeared we are 
not informed. Most likely he was in their midst 
suddenly, without any note of warning. How long 



166 THE BEAUTY OF THE KING. 

he remained and all that he said, we do not know. 
"Would that we had the discourse entire ; we have 
but a summary. " All power is given unto me in 
heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore and teach all 
nations — preach the gospel to every creature — bap- 
tizing them in the name of the Father, and of the 
Son, and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to ob- 
serve all things whatsoever I have commanded you ; 
and lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of 
the world." "Whatever other ideas were advanced 
by him, this one, which I have mentioned as a reason 
for the expediency of his departure, seems to be pre- 
sented with great prominence, namely, the necessity 
of his withdrawal from the human sphere. Tou must 
no longer regard me as a mere man, betrayed and 
crucified. I am equal with the Father, an Omnipo- 
tent and Omnipresent Saviour. 

At the close of the forty days he appeared again 
to the apostles in Jerusalem, and after the con- 
ference, led them out towards Bethany. They 
passed along the old haunts, Kedron, Gethsemane, 
Olivet, and when they had reached some spot, per- 
haps on the slope of Olivet towards Bethany, he 
lifted up his hands and blessed them, and while he 
blessed them he was parted from them and carried 
up into heaven. Thus the minds of the disciples 



TEE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 167 

were gradually accustomed to the idea of liis God- 
head. They loved hini as a man, they now adored 
him as God. Now, when the heavens closed upon 
their Master, instead of being utterly cast down as 
they were at the first announcement of his departure, 
they are filled with joy ! " They worshipped him, 
and returned to Jerusalem with great joy ; and were 
continually in the temple, praising and blessing 
God." 

2. It was expedient for Jesus to go away in order 
that his disciples might learn to walk by faith. The 
present being a state preparatory to a future one they 
could not be always with the Lord. Suppose that 
Christ had remained permanently upon the earth in 
a certain place ; then those near him would have the 
advantage of his presence and instruction, while 
those at a distance would be deprived of it, or else 
would have to make toilsome and expensive pilgrim- 
ages. If there were yearly gatherings into the pres- 
ence of a localized Saviour, no temple or place could 
hold the immense concourse. The laws of human 
existence would be interfered with ; many would 
perish by the way, and the poor, the widow and the 
sick would have little chance of seeing the Healer. 
It is obvious that there must be some other way of 
intercourse with a Saviour than through the means of 



168 TEE BEA UTY OF TEE KING. 

sight. A hearer of prayer for the human race cannot 
be localized. It was necessary for him to go away in 
order that the disciples might learn to live apart from 
his physical presence. How much better the pres- 
ent arrangement than if Jesus was in Palestine. 
Now any troubled soul in any part of the world can 
have converse with him at any time. He is always 
accessible to all ; to the little child as well as to the 
mature man. Faith is better than sight. We some- 
times almost envy the disciples of Jesus because 
they were permitted to look upon his form and hear 
the very words which he uttered, but our privileges 
are greater that theirs, and our dangers less. Their 
reverence for the Saviour had to struggle through 
the deadening influence of physical presence. How 
true it often is that we do not realize the value of a 
friend until we are deprived of his counsel and wis- 
dom. Good men are never fully appreciated until 
they are dead. 

The disciples were exposed to these disadvantages 
which are common to human nature. They were 
also in a state of pupilage, and it would not be best 
for them to remain always in this inferior condition. 
Their obedience in the constant and immediate pres- 
ence of their Master would not be as cordial and un- 
calculating as in his absence. Their own spiritual 



THE ASCENSION OF JESUS. 169 

improvement required the absence of the physical 
form of Jesus. Their condition was similar to that 
of the human being in its successive stages of exist- 
ence. First, there is the period of childhood, during 
which the human being depends solely upon the 
strength and guidance of the parent. Principles and 
motives are implanted and strengthened by visible 
authority. But it is not good that this state should 
always continue ; the props must be removed, and 
the child learn to walk alone. Then comes a higher 
stage — namely, the school. Here the authority and 
guidance of the parent give place to that of the 
teacher. There is more freedom. Some principles 
have strength enough to be left alone ; others need 
still the outward support. Then comes the univers- 
ity, where there is still more freedom and less out- 
ward restraint ; and, finally, the pupil passes out into 
the world, and acts for himself. It is good that each 
of these successive stages should give place to that 
which follows. It is not best for the child to remain 
always a child, nor the pupil always a pupil. This is 
an apt illustration of the condition of the disciples ; 
the progress of their spiritual life required that the 
outward scaffolding should be removed. The same 
law applies to all beings who are in a probationary 
state. They must live by faith. The principles 



170 1EE BEAUTY OF TEE KING. 

which, will live in the future life must be strengthened 
in the present by sensible supports. It was better 
for the disciples to learn to live apart from the ma- 
terial presence of the Saviour. " I tell you the truth, 
it is expedient for you that I go away." Good Bishop 
Andrews, in his fourth sermon On the Sending of the 
Holy Ghost, thus speaks of the expediency of Christ's 
departure : " Christ it is that telleth it us, and telleth 
it us for a matter of great truth, these were — and 
whose case was better than these — but, if these, some 
there are, in that case it may be said to them truly, 
1 It is expedient I be gone. 1 And what case may that 
be ? Even that case that maketh the mother many 
times withdraw herself from her young child, whom 
yet she loveth full tenderly, when the child groweth 
foolishly fond of her ; which grew to be their case 
just ; Christ's flesh and his fleshly presence, that, and 
none but that. So strangely fond they grew of that, 
as they would not endure he should go out of their 
sight ; nothing but his carnal presence would quiet 
them. We know who said, If thou hadst been 
here, Lord, as if, absent, he had not been as able to 
do it by his spirit as present by his body. And a 
tabernacle they would needs build him, to keep him 
on earth still. And ever and anon they were still 
dreaming of an earthly kingdom, and of the chief 



THE ASCENSION OF JES US. 1 7^ 

seats there, as if their consummation should have 
been in the flesh. These fancies, indeed errors, they 
fell into about the flesh ; they had need have it 
taken from them. The spirit was gone quite ; they 
had more need to have him sent. This was, at no 
hand, to be cherished in them. They were not to be 
held as children still, but to grow to man's estate, to 
perfect age and strength ; and so, consequently, to 
be weaned from the corporal presence of his flesh, 
nor to hang all by sense, to which, it is too true, 
they were too much addicted. The corporal, there- 
fore, to be removed, that the spiritual might take 
place ; the visible that the invisible ; and they not in 
sight or sense, as hitherto, but in spirit and truth 
henceforth to cleave to Him ; to say with the Apostle, 
If we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now 
henceforth we know him so no more. This was for 
them ; and we should have been no better, as now 
we are ; the flesh will but hinder the spirit, even the 
best" 

3. The expediency of Christ's departure appears 
from the fact, which he states, that it is the necessary 
condition of the advent of the Holy Spirit " If I go 
not away, the Comforter will not come unto you ; but 
if I depart, I will send him unto you." Why it was 
that the Comforter could not come while Jesus re- 



1 72 TEE BEA UTY OF THE KING. 

mained we cannot understand ; but this is the order 
of advent — Christ first, then the Comforter. It was 
necessary that the physical form of Christ, limited by 
human conditions, should give place to a spiritual 
Agent, all powerful and everywhere present ; not a 
mere influence, but an immaterial Agent, which 
could dwell in the hearts of all men, "I will pray 
the Father, and he shall give you another Comfort- 
er, that he may abide with you forever ; even the 
Spirit of Truth ; whom the world cannot receive, 
because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him ; but 
ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall 
be in you." By this arrangement, all have access to 
the same source of help ; the widow and the orphan, 
the invalid confined to the darkened room, and the 
man in the whirl of business. Not in some sacred 
temple in some favored land do we find the Saviour ; 
but he manifests himself at the call of two or three 
burdened hearts. Instantly the thought in the heart 
can reach the Comforter. What a beautiful arrange- 
ment the plan of salvation presents ; a human Saviour 
on the throne of the universe interceding for us — an 
ever-present Comforter and Sanctifier dwelling in the 
heart. Has the presence of Jesus hallowed every 
part of Palestine, and filled it with a glory which be- 
longs to no other land ? Does the mind contemplate 



THE A SCENSION OF JES US. \ 73 

with delight the scenes of his earthly ministry? 
There is something in this truth of the Spirit's advent 
more wonderful. Every heart becomes a temple, and 
every home a Bethany. It is good for us that the 
localized Christ went away, and sent the Holy Spirit, 
present at all times and in every place. 

It was the remarkable conception, as we have seen 
in another place, of the Man Jesus to establish an 
universal kingdom over the souls of men without re- 
gard to time or condition ; the conception of the 
agency through which it shall be accomplished, even 
if there were no truth in at as a fact, is as remarkable 
as it is far beyond human thought. A kingdom with 
a visible Saviour for its head would necessarily be 
limited, but here is the means of establishing a king- 
dom as extensive as the human race. 

4. It was expedient for the Saviour to go away in 
order that the disciples might have the powerful 
motive for holy living, of love to an unseen friend. 

We live by hope. "We are so constituted that we 
would be utterly miserable if deprived altogether of 
something to engage the thoughts. That soul is 
powerless which does not believe that there is some, 
thing better in the future. The Christian hopes 
finally fco see Jesus. There is thus a double benefit, 
a Saviour both present and future. This gives vigor 



174 THE BEA UTT OF TEE KING. 

to the soul and fills the mouth with songs of glad- 
ness. "In whom, though now we see him not, yet 
believing, we rejoice with joy unspeakable and full 
of glory." 

What a glorious Helper Jesus is ! a suffering man, 
yet crowned with majesty. Let us not entertain 
earthly views of his character. If we regard him as 
a mere martyr, or even as the highest type of created 
intelligence, it will be best for us that he go away 
and come again as the Eternal God. 



THE END. 



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